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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26963893">Cold Hard Instincts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thisisentertaining/pseuds/Thisisentertaining'>Thisisentertaining</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Always trust Sokka's instincts [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Badass Katara (Avatar), Bending, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode: s01e19-20 The Siege of the North, Fighting, Gen, Just found that as a tag, Northern Water Tribe, Pai Sho, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, That seems repetitve, Water Tribe(s) (Avatar), Zuko does not like being locked up, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, canon typical sexism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:07:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,846</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26963893</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thisisentertaining/pseuds/Thisisentertaining</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the Instinctual Verse, please read those first!</p><p>Zuko is glad that he had started getting his bending back before they hit the frigid North Pole, but it turns out that the Northern Water Tribe doesn't feel the same way. </p><p>They hadn't even gotten close to the city yet and he was half frozen in a block of ice, freezing and bound as his captors ignore Katara, Aang, and Sokka's protests. He really should have known something like this would happen, but as usual he'd underestimated his luck and now he had to come up with a way to convince the Northern Chief to allow a firebender to walk free in his village. </p><p>He HAD to, because he wasn't going to let himself become a prisoner. Not again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Katara &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Sokka &amp; Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Always trust Sokka's instincts [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883224</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>400</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1495</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Best of Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko and The Water Tribe</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>TW: Zuko has extreme claustrophobia and fear of speaking during war councils due to traumatic events. He has panic attacks, flashbacks, and other general effects of having a ton of really bad stuff in ones past. </p><p>I am SO excited for this arc!! Chapters might come slowly because I'm working 60-70 hour weeks for the next month or so, but writing helps me destress so who knows. </p><p>I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katara leaned listlessly on Appa’s saddle, eyes trailing over the exact same setting she’d been staring at for nearly two days now. Appa was exhausted, feet trailing the icy waters as Aang whispered encouragement from the beast’s head.</p><p>“Come on, do the thing.” Sokka was poking at Zuko with his boomerang and the firebender rolled his eyes and didn’t move. He was taking up the majority of the saddle, sprawled out shirtless to soak in as much of the weak northern sunlight as possible. Katara, who would occasionally shiver even in her well insulated parka, would have been amazed that he wasn’t turning blue if it wasn’t for ‘the thing’ keeping him warm.</p><p>She watched with idle, amused contentedness as her brother continued to pester the firebender until Zuko finally either got too cold or annoyed and relented. The boy took in a single deep breath, and when he exhaled, the air in a bubble around them got noticeably warmer, like stepping into a sauna in the middle of winter. On the exhale, sparks flew from his mouth and he pettily spat them at Sokka, who loudly complained and contorted to avoid them, but essentially reacted the same as when Katara splashed him with her bending.</p><p>The girl felt a bloom of joy, and of hope, flush through her at the level of trust displayed. Not just on Sokka’s part, for knowing that the flames wielded by Zuko would cause him no harm, but on Zuko’s as well. He wasn’t afraid to use his bending for simple, petty pranks to annoy Sokka.</p><p>The boy had been so tense when he first joined, so scared. She hadn’t trusted him, true, but he’d acted so paranoid that it had been easy to be suspicious of him. Still, she could see that he had been so <em>careful; </em>weighing each action and word as though the wrong one would have disastrous results.</p><p>Who knew, with Jet maybe it would have.</p><p>She was glad to see him more comfortable now, teasing Sokka and complaining about how long it was taking to find the Northern Water Tribe. Momo jumped off of Aang’s shoulder to curl up on the teen’s chest, cuddling on the warm spot. Zuko rolled his eyes but obliged the lemur much more readily than he had Sokka, taking another deep breath and letting out another wave of heat. He’d been getting a little stronger with his firebending, but still could do little more than manipulate a small torch, make sparks, and whatever this was.</p><p>Sokka sighed in contentedness as warmth flooded them. “Okay, list of Fire Nation things that are actually kinda good,” And that’s why the trust warmed Katara. She spoke of hope for a world after the Fire Nation had been defeated, but had never considered what part the Fire Nation would play in that world. If the people there were less like Zhao and more like Zuko… well maybe there was true hope for a new world after all. “1: That, whatever that is. Insta-Sauna.”</p><p>“It’s called breath of fire.” Zuko said, sounding simultaneously content and superior.</p><p>“Fine. 2:-“</p><p>“Zuko!” Aang added cheerfully, and Sokka paused for a moment before inclining his head as though to say ‘fair’. Zuko was scowling again, but his cheeks were bright red and Katara couldn’t help but laugh. He turned the scowl on her, but it was quickly losing effect on her.</p><p>“3: Those dumplings, and the roasted nuts.”</p><p>“Pretty much the whole Fire Festival.” Katara added. Even the whole fire show was cool.</p><p>“Would have been better if Aang hadn’t jumped in.” Zuko grumbled, and Katara had to fight down another laugh. Sokka didn’t bother. As always, Zuko jumped when he realized he kinda-sorta told a joke.</p><p>Tui and La, how had she ever been intimidated by this kid?</p><p>Suddenly Aang yelled, forcing Appa into a sharp angle as a jagged sheet of ice shot from the ocean in front of the bison. Sokka, Katara, and Zuko yelled out in surprise, clutching desperately to the saddle as mini-icebergs emerged from the sea and tried their hardest to capsize the flying beast.</p><p>Zuko was holding on with only one hand, the other had drawn his sword. Because of course he did.</p><p>What did he expect to do? Stab the ice?</p><p>As it was, the boy wasn’t able to keep his one hand grip when one patch of ice got too close and sent the bison careening across the water like a skipped rock. Katara screamed as she watched her friend go flying overboard, itching to bend him to safety but unable to move a hand lest she face the same fate. Within moments Appa stopped with a splash, and cold ice encircled and trapped the bison.</p><p>Katara was moving instantly, so focused on finding a mop of unruly dark hair amung the icy dark water that she didn’t notice the low ships full of men in the blues and white of the Water Tribe floating purposely their way. At least, she didn’t until a column of ice rose from the water with a struggling Zuko in tow, without her lifting a finger.</p><p>“They’re waterbenders.” She said in wonder. “We found the Water Tribe!”</p><p>Sokka, Aang, and her shared a large, wondrous grin. Zuko proceeded to try to stab at the ice.</p><p>It was surprisingly effective, that or he had been melting it, for he was soon able to pull himself free and jump from the pillar to Appa’s back. He was shivering violently, alarmingly. His torso was covered in a thin layer of constantly melting-and-freezing seawater, and his lips were tinged blue.</p><p>Katara immediately moved, Sokka beside her, cuddling up to the boy so that his pale exposed skin was covered in the warmth of their coats. Zuko squirmed, uncomfortable with hugs still, though she, Sokka, and Aang had been working on that for weeks now. After a moment however, the desire for heat won out, and she was gratified to feel him relax between them.</p><p>Score one for team hugs.</p><p>Zuko let out a shuddering breath, then took in a purposeful one. By the time he exhaled- water steaming off of him as his lips and cheeks regained a more natural color- the Northern Water Tribe was upon them.</p><p>Katara smiled widely, brightly. They had made it. Through trials and tribulations and dangers, they had kept going. Now they were here, she and Aang could finally learn <em>real </em>waterbending. They would learn the waterbending that was capable of felling a flying bison.  </p><p>She had never felt more hopeful.</p><p>Then one of the tribesmen shouted “Fire Bender!” and Zuko was cast off of Appa by a cannonball of ice.</p><p>Her smile fell.</p><hr/><p>Zuko glared as he once more used his breath of fire, uncaring that one of the benders pointedly made the ice trapping him even stronger. The water tribe peasants could do what they wanted, if he wasn’t getting a shirt, he would do what he had to do in order to keep frostbite at bay.</p><p>If he focused on that, he could ignore that he was <em>trapped, </em>ignore the voice shouting <em>NotAgainNotAgainNotAgain. </em></p><p>Sokka, Katara, and Aang were all loudly protesting his treatment, which helped a bit as well. The waterbenders didn’t seem to be listening to them though, not even the Avatar, and instead stoically lead them into the iced city. Zuko could only hope that it was because they didn’t want to speak for their chief, rather than that this blatant disregard of visitors was cultural. He doubted it was a Water Tribe thing, based on Sokka and Katara, but they were from the South Pole, and from their stories of it, the North Pole seemed a vastly different.</p><p>Katara and Sokka spoke of single family huts, legends told around a fire with homemade and well cared for goods. They spoke of a small community that was almost like an extended family, with the chief’s family no better off than any other as they shared what they had. This… this was a palace, a gorgeous sprawling city formed in white and blue and crystal. There was advanced architecture, a castle, decorated and fortified walls that shone in the weak northern sun.</p><p>It would have been beautiful if he hadn’t been shivering and tied up and scared.  </p><p>The three others were not cold and bound and <em>afraid</em>. They were free to gape at the stunning scene, the hear of even Katara’s anger buffered by wonder. Zuko shuddered as the opening of the gates created an additional gust of wind, and let out another burst of the life-saving breath of fire. The waterbenders not involved with opening the gate glared at him, but he simply glared back even fiercer.</p><p>That was the only benefit of the scar. He could look more intimidating than these water tribe warriors without even trying.</p><p>He was momentarily distracted by the intricate lowering of the inner of the inner gate, but his fury returned several times over as the small boat he was attached to slid smoothly along the canals and townspeople gaped like they were some kind of festival procession. Part of that could have been Aang and, more likely, the giant flying bison, but he was too angry to care.</p><p>The only one who didn’t openly stare was a young girl in a rich purple coat, sailing on an ornately decorated boat and staring demurely ahead. Zuko’s guards stiffened as her boat slid past, only relaxing when she was well out of Zuko’s range. Someone important than. Likely royalty or whatever the Water Tribe equivalent was.</p><p>Behind him, Zuko could distantly hear the sounds of Sokka making a fool of himself as the royalty passed Appa. The Fire Nation teen wished even more in that moment that his hands were free, if only so that he could facepalm.</p><p>A woman emerged from one of the grand buildings and tried to ferry Aang, Katara, and Sokka to some rooms to rest, but the three of them seemed to finally remember that their resident fire bender was (freezing and immobilized and terrified) a prisoner and were staunchly refusing to leave his side. The woman tried to protest, but when Sokka insisted she acquiesced with surprising speed.</p><p>Zuko would be lying to say he wasn’t relieved.</p><p>They made them wait outside an impressive ice building for several minutes, the ice growing thicker and thicker around Zuko as the benders responded to his breath of fire, but he was starting having trouble feeling his fingertips so he wasn’t about to stop. Katara was looking like she was seconds away from scolding the benders again, while Aang gripped his staff nervously and Sokka complained loudly about the wait.</p><p>Zuko wasn’t surprised though, they were likely calling the leaders of the village to the room, waiting for them to arrive so that they could make an imposing scene. The boy breathed out another breath of licking flames. He tried to stave off the feel of the ice against his bare skin, the cold burning just as painfully as fire. He tried to ignore that he would soon be face to face with another war council.</p><p>If he went out this time, it wouldn’t be on his knees, he would make sure of that.</p><p>Zuko was starting to lose feeling in his bound toes by the time the council had finally all arrived. The doors to the ornate building opened, and with a move of the waterbenders' hands the firebender’s ice block slid through the doors to a huge chamber with a roaring waterfall along the back wall. Four men sat on a raised platform in front of the waterfall, with a single man standing in front of them at the center.</p><p>In the Fire Nation, the Firelord-the most powerful person- sat on their raised throne in all meetings. They sat even when others stood, as a mark of their authority and nobility. Zuko had the feeling that things were different here, that the man still on his feet was the true leader. The benders who brought Zuko into the room knelt, bending the ice in such a way that he did as well.</p><p>Zuko immediately snarled, struggling against the bonds and contorting his back to remain as upright as possible despite the restricting bindings. Not. On. His. Knees.</p><p>The leader, chief?, scowled, but made a gesture that had the men rising to their feet fluidly. The man’s eyes ran over the group of four, clearly debating whether he should address the Avatar or the matter of the prisoner first. Luckily, Sokka seemed to be raised with no concept of respecting authority as he stepped forward.</p><p>“Uh, hey Chief, greetings from the Avatar and the Southern Water Tribe. Is there any chance you could, uh, <em>not </em>turn our friend into a fire-sicle. Please.”</p><p>The chief scowled harder at Sokka before inclining his head respectfully to Aang. “Avatar, I welcome you to our tribe. I also welcome the members of our sister tribes. It has been too long since we have had contact with our kin, and I am… overjoyed to welcome you as companions to the Avatar and as fellow Water tribesmen.” He did not seem overjoyed. “However, I will <em>not </em>allow the enemy into my village. We will deal with the prisoner as we see fit. You are welcome to hear our decree, but you do not have voices on this council.”</p><p>“But that’s not fair!” Katara shouted, pure spirit and relentless determination.</p><p>“You can’t <em>do </em>that!” Sokka protested.</p><p>“Zuko isn’t your enemy!” Aang added.</p><p>Zuko said nothing, his vision splotchy and going black as his friends spoke up in a <em>war council they were told to stay silent in.</em> His breath came out in heaving, frantic gasps that clouded in front of him in the cold room. He barely heard the argument between his friends and the chief, instead focusing his breath. When he did come up with enough clarity to understand the words behind the noise floating around the room, it was to hear the chief.</p><p>“..have cells in the glacier. In deference to the Avatar, I suppose we will not kill him outright, but he will be kept there, secure.”</p><p>Aang was still arguing, and Zuko let out a shuddery breath before admitting. “Sokka, I will burn this place to the ground on top of me before I’ll allow them to lock me up.”</p><p>“Yeah, buddy, how about you <em>don’t </em>say that loud enough for the nice waterbenders to hear.”</p><p>Zuko barely heard, only the chief’s words occasionally permeating the terror, the need to <em>fight </em>that caused a dull rush in his hears. “You <em>will </em>abide by our rules if you wish for Master Pakku to teach you waterbending-“</p><p>And <em>that, </em>that was a thing. It was a thing he recognized, it was an odd, unfamiliar name on a creased letter in familiar calligraphy on paper stained with tea. Barely thinking, mind a wash of only not-again-not-again-not-again and never-give -up-without-a-fight, he found himself yelling out, “Waterbending Master Pakku! I challenge you to a game of Pai Sho!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter 2 is up!! </p><p>Also, sorry if I don't respond to comments right now, that's part of the crazy working schedule I mentioned last chapter. I still LOVE receiving comments, please please keep leaving them and someday I will be back to responding! </p><p>Thank you so much for your support! It inspires me to write! Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For a long, painful moment, silence rang through the room. It was like everyone had frozen, faces a mask of complete and total bafflement. The silence was only broken by Sokka, breathing in a voice so silent that it would have been impossible to be heard by any but the Gaang clustered around Zuko.</p><p>“He finally snapped. I knew it was a matter of time, but really? <em>Now</em>?”</p><p>“Pai Sho?” The chief asked, incredulously, face twisting in confused suspicion. However, the elderly man behind him had straightened, eyes growing sharp.</p><p>Zuko kept his eyes on the elder. “Yes. If I win, then I walk free with my companions. If not… then I willingly submit myself to the justice of your tribe.” The words felt like acid in his mouth, but he forced them out, forced himself to <em>mean </em>them. Forced himself not to remember the last formal challenge he’d made, a nation and a lifetime ago.</p><p>The Chief’s face scrunched into fury. “How dare you think a simple game could-“</p><p>“Chief.” The Master said, eyes still sharp. “I have heard it said that it is through Pai Sho that a man’s true self is revealed. If the firebender is as… reformed as the Avatar and his companions would like to believe, I would see it.”</p><p>The chief did not seem comforted, instead he was looking at the elder with outright astonishment. “You would risk our Tribe on the results of a game?”</p><p>“I would accept full responsibility for the boy and his actions. <em>If </em>he is able to impress me. You have my word Chief; I would do nothing to endanger our people.”</p><p>After a long, silent moment, the chief nodded. He nodded at the men who had drug Zuko into the room and they scattered, presumably to get a board and tiles. Zuko… could not believe this was working. If the glare Master Pakku was sending his way meant anything, then the elder was wishing it wasn’t.</p><p>The teen finally turned to his friends. Katara, Aang, and Sokka were all gaping openly at him. “Zuko, Zuko my man, are you completely sure you want to risk your… everything on a game you last played when you were <em>thirteen</em>?” Sokka asked, expression openly horrified.</p><p>“I played a few weeks ago!” Zuko said, defensive even though he was pretty sure he’d never actually <em>won</em> a game that hadn’t been entrenched in a million codes. Assuming there was such a thing as a game of Pai Sho that wasn’t entrenched in a million codes. “Trust me, I can do this.”</p><p>“Pai Sho is <em>really </em>hard.” Aang said doubtfully. “I played against Monk Gyastu a million times and I never won <em>once</em>.”</p><p>“How did you even <em>know </em>Pakku played?” Katara asked.</p><p>“This makes no sense.” Sokka moaned.</p><p>“Trust me.” He said simply, and luckily that was all that he had time for as the men returned with a board and two sets of tiles. Where Uncle’s set had been carved from mined marble and Jeong Jeong’s formed in Earth Kingdom stone, Pakku’s tiles seemed to be made of carved bones, though his tiles were just as worn, and the guest tiles were just as pristine.</p><p>Pakku watched him shrewdly, his face screwed up as if he had just eaten one of their disgusting sea prunes. “The guest has the first move.”</p><p>Zuko took a deep breath and laid his Lotus tile to the middle of the board, the man’s scowl only grew. He seemed to hem and haw with his tiles before finally saying, “Not many still cling to the old ways,: just as he laid a tile. Something about the way the man spoke, the way he deliberated, reminded Zuko of the others in the room. This wasn’t Jeong Jeong’s tent, where code could be said clearly. This was a careful maneuvering of words, the audience ever in mind.</p><p>“My, uh, my uncle taught me. He used to say that those who did could always find a friend.” He said awkwardly, hoping that it seemed more natural than it felt.</p><p>The entire room was silent during the game, the code phrases accompanied by only the constant rushing of the waterfall. The air felt heavy with anticipation, and Zuko barely breathed until he played his final move, creating the image of the lotus and, strangely, a victory for the guest. In fact, if Aang’s reactions were any indication, he’d been on the path to victory starting five moves back.</p><p>He should really get a refresher on how to actually play Pai Sho.</p><p>Pakku’s scowl did not lessen when the final tile was laid. He didn’t say the traditional, <em>very conspicuous</em>, ending code phrase. Instead he nodded, scowl never leaving. “I will sponsor the firebender. Any crimes he commits, any harm that he causes will be placed on my shoulders as well as his. For the moment… I will speak in favor of him.”</p><p>The chief scowled, looking anything but happy, but eventually he nodded. “I suppose you are <em>more </em>than equipped with… handling him should he cause problems.” The chief locked eyes with Zuko as he spoke, as though to ensure that the teen caught the clear threat underlying every word.</p><p>Pakku nodded deferentially, understanding the implications as well. “Of course.”</p><p>Aang of course, completely missed it as he lunged for Zuko, pulling him into a tight embrace. “Yay! See Zuko, I knew it would all work out. You’re <em>really </em>good at Pai Sho by the way! We should play together some time.”</p><p>“Uh… sure Aang.”</p><p>The chief cleared his throat, still looking immensely unhappy. “With this matter resolved, you are dismissed. Avatar Aang, Sokka, Katara, I will have someone to escort you to our guest quarters to freshen up. You came at a lucky time, today is my daughter’s sixteenth birthday party. For such an auspicious guest to visit on this day…” The first genuine smile graced the chief’s face. “I believe it is a sign of good fortune, the princess will have a lucky sixteenth year.”</p><p>Aang was frowning, however. “That about Zuko?”</p><p>The chief’s small smile dropped, but it was Pakku who answered. “As his sponsor, the firebender will stay with me.”</p><p>Zuko scowled, some residual ping of anxiety surfacing in his stomach, fighting against the notion of being separated from the three. From being alone again. Katara eyed him carefully. “Are you okay with that Zuko?” She asked softly.</p><p>The Fire Nation teen forced a deep, calming breath and pushed down that bit of anxiety. It had been enough of a fight just to keep him out of prison. He honestly wasn’t interested in staying in this room (in this <em>war council</em>) and arguing a moment longer. “It’s fine.” He grumbled. Then, louder. “Can I get a shirt now?” He asked-demanded.</p><p>One of the warriors on the snorted in amusement, but Pakku simply rolled his eyes and led the teen from the room. Aang, Katara, and Sokka followed until the same woman from before began leading them in the opposite direction. Zuko’s hands folded into fists as they separated, but he said nothing as he followed the water bending master into a small, but comfortable home. The instant the door closed behind him, ice shot out and pinned Zuko against the wall.</p><p>The teen snarled, immediately struggling against the bonds but before he could do anything, Pakku’s face was right there, inches from his own and furious. “What part of <em>secret </em>code did your smoke-addled brain not understand? The White Lotus blooms in the hidden places, not in the middle of a <em>war council</em> with the chief of the Northern Water Tribe feet away.”</p><p>“What was I supposed to do? Your chief was about to lock me up in prison.”</p><p>“<em>Anything</em> but put the White Lotus in danger. I would think the Grand Lotus would have taught you better. But then, you haven’t bothered to contact him, have you? Haven’t bothered to use the code at all until you needed it.”</p><p>Zuko scowled once he’d worked out that the ‘Grand Lotus’ was Uncle. “You don’t know anything about me.”</p><p>“You’re right, I don’t know you. And from what I do know, you are not worthy to know our ways. Pai Sho is about forethought, boy. You could have sent your friends with a private challenge if you had simply allowed yourself to wait in prison for a few hours.”</p><p>Zuko scowled, struggling to free his scarred wrist from the constricting ice. “No. I couldn’t have.”</p><p>Pakku scowled even harder, but allowed the ice to fall away. “What’s done is done, I suppose. Though make no mistake, boy. I am not happy with how you went about it.”</p><p>“Noted.”</p><p>Pakku sighed. “The chief is still distrustful of you. I will try to speak with him, but if you truly want freedom here, you will have to work to earn his favor.”</p><p>“Fine.” Zuko said shortly.</p><p>“It will not be easy.”</p><p>“Just tell me what I need to do.” He was very used to doing what was necessary to earn the approval of a leader. Maybe this time it would work.</p><p>“For now, be respectful. Do not argue. Do not engage with the princess. I have some… additional ideas, but those will have to wait until after the feast.”</p><p>“Great. Now, about that shirt.”</p><hr/><p>Zuko was scowling as always as he plopped on the floor between Katara and Aang. The two had left a gap for him, Aang on one side and both Water Tribe siblings on the other as though to create a barrier of friendliness to protect against the tribe’s clear hostility. One would think that the anorak that he had borrowed would help him blend it, but it only emphasized the pale of his skin and gold of his eyes. The matter wasn’t helped by the narrowed eye glare his scar forced, or by formal sieza he naturally sat in. Everything about the boy screamed <em>different</em>, screamed firebender, and Katara was hyper aware of the extra scrutiny he was over.</p><p>It wasn’t fair. They were supposed to be <em>better </em>than this. She’d spent so long dreaming of coming here, dreaming of finding her people and learning to bend. Whenever she thought of this moment, it had been joyful and victorious. It had felt like coming home.</p><p>This was nothing like she imagined. She was uncomfortable, on edge and nervous. Not to mention angry. Why didn’t they believe them? The Avatar himself was speaking for Zuko’s character, why didn’t they believe him?</p><p>She was going to conveniently ignore the fact that she had held out on distrusting him for long after Aang had given his approval.</p><p>“Ugh,” Zuko complained, shaking out his wrists and glaring at the insulating fox-hare fur around the flopping cuffs. “What is with this? Even if I <em>could </em>bend, I wouldn’t be able to without setting my <em>coat </em>on fire. I hate this, why is the most flammable part right next to my <em>hands </em>and <em>face</em>.” He was practically growling.</p><p>Katara couldn’t help but laugh, mentally comparing the heavy, draping coat to the sleeveless or skintight Fire Nation uniforms. “We don’t exactly have to worry about that.” Zuko was still looking grumpy, so she tried to distract him by describing the insulation features of the fur and why the anorak design was important to the Water Tribe, both culturally and practically. Zuko seemed reluctantly impressed as she explained, especially when she explained how her own coat was trimmed in arctic-beaver-seal fur as it tended to be more waterproof, which was important for waterbenders.</p><p>Zuko in turn shared that firebender clothes would often have the very ends of sleeves and pants made out of less-flammable wool, while the main sections would be made of completely different fabric; though what type of fabric depended on the status of the individual. Sleeves were usually skin tight as well to prevent mistakes, it was considered a mark of a great master to wear flowing sleeves. Aang contributed by explaining the aerodynamic benefits of his flowing robes in the wind, and the light breathable linens that the monks used. By the time the monk had finished, it seemed they were finally ready to begin. Zuko was a bit calmer, but his shoulders were still tense and his eyes had yet to cease constantly surveying the room for threats.</p><p>The chief didn’t mention Zuko at all during his introduction to the feast, instead only mentioning the visit of the Avatar and the birthday of his daughter. Katara was more relieved than anything. Maybe if they didn’t draw too much attention to it, everyone would just kinda… forget that Zuko wasn’t supposed to be here.</p><p>Yeah, she didn’t really expect that to happen.</p><p>However, any bitter thoughts she had were quickly forced from her mind as Master Pakku and a pair of waterbenders started a beautiful waterbending show. She and Aang were entranced by the show, eyes wide with wonder as they clapped and cheered the impressive control. Katara glanced at Aang over Zuko’s head and they shared a grin.</p><p>She couldn’t <em>wait </em>to learn how to do that.</p><hr/><p>He would never admit it to Katara, but Zuko thought that firebending shows were <em>much </em>more impressive than… this. There was no showmanship here, no story, not even interesting shapes. All they had done was make the water go in circles. Was that actually what constituted as <em>impressive </em>here? Although, he supposed it was a <em>lot </em>of water, and water was different from fire, it had weight to it. He narrowed his eyes, considering. That was <em>much </em>more water than these men would have been able to carry. In fact it was probably more than 5 times that many men could carry. Was that the impressive bit here? If so… it honestly was pretty impressive. They were moving more than their own weight in water, controlling a tidal wave with precise care.</p><p>As the show progressed, the volume of water got smaller and the tricks got more impressive, but overall Zuko much preferred the fire magician. So, when the princess sat next to Sokka, Zuko immediately centered on that as the more interesting portion of the night’s entertainment.</p><p>He was right.</p><p>The teen found himself literally stuffing his mouth with the stew to keep himself from laughing outright when Sokka claimed to be a ‘prince’ to impress the pretty girl. This proved to be a bad plan. Why had they put the sea prunes in the stew and how could he get the taste out of his mouth?</p><p>He was taking a long drink of tea in attempt to rid himself of the flavor when he heard Sokka offer “Maybe we can… do an activity together.”</p><p>Bad timing.</p><p>Aang, who had somehow missed the entire conversation, was patting his back in concern as Zuko cough-snorted, his lungs struggling to recalibrate after his mini spit-take.</p><p>Katara was laughing as well. “That was smooth.” She said sarcastically.</p><p>Sokka pouted and looked to Zuko, perhaps for some advice or a platitude saying that it hadn’t been as bad a line as he’d thought. Zuko remembered accidentally tackling Mai into a fountain and coughed away a laugh, deciding to go with some sympathy instead. “That’s rough buddy.”</p><p>Apparently, that was not what the Water Tribe warrior wanted to hear, and he groaned into his hands. “Come on man, like you would do any better.”</p><p>“Zuko was in a cave for three years, Sokka.” Katara chided jokingly. “What’s your excuse.”</p><p>Zuko was unreasonably relieved that she didn’t mention the scar, which was practically guaranteed to make sure he always started out in a losing position in any ‘game’ he tried to have. It was nice to know he had a sliding scale to apply to his trauma.</p><p>Sokka sputtered and sullenly stuffed food into his mouth. Zuko chuckled a bit more and carefully observed a hunk of meat before determining that there were no sea-prunes on <em>it </em>somehow and followed the other boy’s lead. Overall, the food was pretty good, and Katara and Sokka took great joy in piling stuff in front of him that they thought he would like, paying him back for his enthusiasm at stuffing them with Fire Nation food at the festival.</p><p>He was never quite able to <em>completely </em>forget about the half-glares and suspicious side eyes from the tribe members who protested having a firebender in their midst, but for the most part he was able to… ignore it. He could focus on the meal, on the show, the beat of drums and rhythm of music, on Katara and Sokka’s joy as they shared their culture with him as he had with them.</p><p>The celebration lasted long until the night, until finally after hours of feasting and revelry, people started to trickle out. It wasn’t long until a yawning pair of Southern teens joined the leaving throngs, Aang following quickly behind after Arnook introduced him to Pakku. Soon, Zuko was following the waterbending master back to his hut.</p><p>The pair were silent on their walk back, each entrenched in their own thoughts. The teen thought back to his lessons at home, book after book that had presented the Water Tribe as primitive savages, lacking culture and art and the things that represented real civilization. It couldn’t have been further from the truth. There was <em>so much</em> culture and civilization here, it was different from the Fire Nation, yes, but that didn’t make it… less.</p><p>The Fire Nation… his ancestors, his <em>father</em> had lied about the purpose of the war, had lied about caring for their people, had lied about the supposed air nation army, and had lied about the Water Tribe. They’d lied about the earth kingdom, which was taught as being stagnant and resistant to change, but most of the Fire Nation’s most recent technological advances were from an Earth Kingdom scientist forced to invent for the Fire Nation from his place of refuge. What else had he lied about? What else was he prepared to lie about for this pointless, stupid war?</p><p>“I have spoken to Chief Arnook.” Pakku said, startling Zuko out of his thoughts. The teen blinked as his mind struggled to catch up. It was so easy sometimes to slip into his thoughts, to fall into the hole of his thoughts that had eaten up whole days within the cave. Even so, once he had pulled himself from his thoughts completely, he wasn’t sure what the Master was talking about.</p><p>“About what?” He ventured.</p><p>“About you.” The <em>idiot </em>was implied. “He would be more… comfortable with you being here if you were to contribute to the tribe.”</p><p>“Like… chores?” Zuko said, relaxing a bit. If all it took to stop the glares was a bit of cleaning, he could do that.</p><p>“Like helping to train our warriors.” The man said impatiently. “We have not faced the Fire Nation in nearly 80 years. Our benders are formidable warriors, but they are out of practice fighting against fire. I wish for them to spar with you so that I can better instruct them.”</p><p>Zuko felt a chill run through him that had nothing to do with the arctic air.  He blinked against the memory of a dark cave, of children rushing him with weapons raised when he had no way to escape. would This was different. He had an excuse now.</p><p>“I can’t firebend. Not completely. I was… sick. It’s coming back but I’m still pretty weak. I can just make sparks, move some existing flame. Not much. I don’t think I would be much help.”</p><p>Instead of scowling as he expected, Pakku looked contemplative. “There is a way to prevent firebenders from bending? Interesting, if we could do that…”</p><p>“You can’t.” Zuko replied harshly. “It’s not something… it takes years.” He shoved the thick material of his coat up his arm, freeing his scarred wrist. He couldn’t stand for anything to be touching it. Not now. He’d hoped the movement would be subtle, but the elder’s eyes flicked to the bared arm immediately, and Zuko scowled.</p><p>“I suppose then that it would not be useful in battle. Pity.” He eyed the boy shrewdly. “However, you would still be able to advise, and I saw the swords you brought with you. Fighting against a different style would still help our men. That is, unless you are… unwilling to accept the chief’s offer.”</p><p>Zuko took in a deep breath, unconsciously releasing flames on the exhale. He knew what this was, he could read between the lines. Firebending or not, he <em>would </em>be expected to fight if he wanted to stay in the village. He was expected to show warriors how to fight against his people, just as he had in the cave. He was expected to teach how to fight, how to defeat, how to <em>kill</em> the people he was supposed to lead and protect.</p><p>The boy thought back to the air temple that they had visited just days before. He thought of how the people there were refugees, scarred and scared and desperate. He thought of how the Fire Nation, his people, had attacked this last place of peace, how dozens of Fire Nation soldiers had fallen as they followed orders to attack a peaceful place. He’d realized then and there that the war was hurting the Fire Nation just as much as it hurt the other Nations, that hundreds upon thousands of Fire Nation soldiers were being killed over lies and a quest for power that Ozai already had.</p><p>The war was wrong, and the Northern Water Tribe was only as pristine as it was because the Fire Lord hadn’t brought it to them yet. Just as the Northern Air Temple had been a place of safety until they stopped giving the Fire Nation what they wanted. He loved his people. He loved his nation. He wouldn’t begrudge these people their right to love theirs as well.</p><p>“I want your word, and the word of your chief, that whatever I teach will be used only to defend your home.”</p><p>The master bender stared at Zuko evenly. “I cannot promise that we will never leave the pole. Nor can I promise that we will stay out of the war.”</p><p>Zuko scowled at him. “I won’t arm you to seek out my people to kill.”</p><p>The man seemed to consider their impasse for a moment. “I will give you my word that should the Avatar succeed and the war end, we will not use your teachings against the Fire Nation.”</p><p>The teen was silent for a long moment, his heat beating at a breakneck pace in fear, but he forced himself to nod. “Fine.” This wouldn’t be the same as the cave.  He would have options (fight or leave). He would be outside (he hoped). They would be supervised (by people who might care if he got hurt. Maybe.). He would be fine. He could do this.</p><p>He had to (He didn’t think he had a choice).</p><p>“Excellent.” The elder said as they finally arrived at his home. “I am training the Avatar and his friend in the morning, but after lunch you will meet me in the training grounds. Then we will see how my men fare against you.”</p><p>Zuko frowned, something about the wording odd. “Your men? What about the female benders? Will I face them later?”</p><p>Pakku’s ever-present scowl deepened. “Women do not waterbend!” He said sharply. “It is against tradition. Female benders are to be healers, they are not warriors.”</p><p>Zuko vowed to be as far away as possible when Katara heard about that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, if people think Pakku is being extra harsh, I want to point out that Zuko is an unreliable narrator and he is not necessarily being forced to fight, it's just that is what he is perceiving the situation to be.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you to everyone for being patient during my crazy busy season! I should be up and running soon and moving along in this story!</p><p>Also, I did some grammar editing of earlier stories in the collection, so if you reread, things may seem subtly-slightly different, do not be alarmed, your memory is not failing you, I was just meddling lol. </p><p>Hope you enjoy@</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zuko was meditating to the weak light of pre-dawn when Pakku moved out of his room. It was strange to wake before the sun, but it rose so late in this northern winter that he was rested before the sun completely rose. Pakku seemed surprised to see him up, but when someone came to the door with a pot, he reluctantly invited the young firebender to share breakfast. Zuko accepted, joining the elder at the low table to accept a savory porridge with preserved fish. It was surprisingly tasty, and the warmth of the porridge was welcome in the cold morning.</p><p>“My more advance classes meet in the early afternoon.” The man began as they ate, breaking the silence that had just started to range away from ‘awkward’ and to comfortable. “The training grounds that we use are on the glacier overlooking the healing tent.”</p><p>Zuko blinked at the abrupt info-dump before remembering their conversation the night before, and what he had agreed to. The teen scowled, but vowed, “I’ll be there.”</p><p>The waterbending master nodded. “I’m off to begin the Avatar’s training. I told the boy to meet me at dawn and would like to run through some katas before he arrives.”</p><p>Zuko cocked his head, curious. “Firebending training always starts at dawn. It’s interesting that waterbending does as well, I was always told that waterbending powers rose with the moon.”</p><p>Pakku hesitated for a moment, as though reluctant to give away bending information to a potential enemy before forcing himself to answer. “You were told correctly, however what the Avatar needs right now is not power, it is control. I will use the time that his power is at it’s least, to train his control to be its greatest.” A smirk flit across the old man’s face. “Besides, I suspect that the boy lack discipline, I want to make sure that he has the ability to do what is asked, even when it is something he does not wish to do.”</p><p>Zuko bowed, hands making the symbol of the flame. “You are a wise master, Sifu Pakku.” He said. Regardless of his nation, it was easy to see that Pakku was a good master.</p><p>The man eyed him shrewdly, as though trying to determine whether or not the boy’s compliment was genuine. Eventually he seemed to come to the conclusion that it was, and his severe expression relaxed a bit. “The Northern Water Tribe boasts the best healers in any nation. I recommend you pay them a visit, they may be able to help your firebending. At the very least they should be able to get a read on your chi.”</p><p>Zuko perked, rising to his feet. “Thanks.” He said, pulling his borrowed coat on over his head and following the elderly bender out of the simple hut. There wasn’t much action outside yet, though most homes had the glowing light of candles or heaths flickering in the windows. Likely people wouldn’t start to come outside until the sun was fully up, and were starting the day with indoor chores. The teen followed the man’s directions for the healing hut, silently very glad that he went the opposite direction. He wanted to be well out of the way when Katara was denied training. It wasn’t until he walked into the room to see a young girl holding a ball of glowing water to a child’s skinned knee, and older woman monitoring closely, that he remembered Pakku’s decree that female benders were to be healers. Which meant Katara would be sent this way.</p><p>Great.</p><p>The room went stiff when he entered, all eyes locked onto him with grim suspicion. The teen felt his shoulders rising to his ears as the stares brough tension. His hands folded into fists and though he didn’t quite breath fire, the steam caused by his breath was much more noticeable than that created by the others. He tried to force himself to calm down, but it was hard. He <em>hated </em>being stared at.</p><p>Finally, one person left the fearful huddle, an elderly woman with her white hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head. “Can I help you, young man?”</p><p>“Um, Pakku said that I should come here because I’ve been having some… problems with my chi.” He forced the words through clenched teeth, forcing himself to look to the woman rather than the still-afraid group eyeing him. He <em>hated</em> being watched like he was a threat, no not a threat, an active danger. They watched him like a scorpion-viper, likely to strike for the sin of being too near. He wanted to scream at them, shout that he didn’t want to hurt anyone, but he knew it would only make matters worse.</p><p>He tried to force a smile, to look unthreatening, but he didn’t know how. His childhood was ‘show no weakness’ and his adolescence was ‘always be ready to fight’. He <em>was</em> dangerous. He <em>was</em> a threat. But not to these people. He just didn’t know how to show it.</p><p>“Well,” The woman said, and namedropping Pakku seemed to have helped as she relaxed. “I’m afraid you came into the wrong room. This is our training room. The other door leads to our general clinic.”</p><p>Zuko flushed. Oh. He gave a pair of quick bows, first to the woman, then to the cluster of others. All of whom were young (other than the mother of the child), most of them could still be considered children. “I apologize for the interruption.”</p><p>Something of his ‘trying not to seem threatening’ must have worked, because for some reason one of the little girls giggled at that, and suddenly the group terrified children turned in to a gaggle of whispers behind gloves and high-pitched giggles.</p><p>Worse. This was worse.</p><p>The old woman, however, was smiling. “My name is Yugoda. I am the senior healer and am in charge of training the novices. Come, I will take you to someone who can help.”</p><p>“Thank you.” He said awkwardly. He bowed again, but that just set off another round of giggling that made him blush even harder.</p><p>The woman winked and lead him outside to another entrance of the large and lavish hut, moving into a room staffed by young and middle aged women chatting. A few beds were in the room, but the only one occupied was that of a man whose leg was suspended in an elaborate contraption. He was still asleep.</p><p>The women stopped chatting and stood at something close to attention as Yugoda entered, but other than a kindly smile and a nod, she ignored the majority of them and marched straight to a woman approximately 10 years his senior with a hairstyle with particularly elaborate ‘hair loopies’.</p><p>“Amka.” She greeted.</p><p>“Healer Yugoda, did you bring me a patient?” She asked, her eyes lingering on the scar marring Zuko’s face.</p><p>“Yes. Our guest here…”</p><p>“Zuko.”</p><p>“Zuko, says that he’s having some problems with his chi. You have always been the most talented with that, I thought you would like to take a look.”</p><p>A specific shine came to the woman’s eyes at the mention of chi, Zuko at first would have attributed it to the fact that she wouldn’t have to break the news that they could do nothing for a years-old scar (Katara had tried, but the wound was too old), but she seemed especially eager.</p><p>“I get to look at a firebender’s chi?” She asked eagerly.</p><p>Yugoda smiled. “You may, but remember, this is for healing, not for research.”</p><p>And then she just… left. She left Zuko with the stranger. Not that she wasn’t a stranger. Not that it made sense to trust one random stranger waterbender more than another. This was fine. It would have to be fine.</p><p>The woman smiled at him, still looking to eager for his preference, but the boy obeyed when she directed him to lay on one of the blankets. He watched as her hands enveloped in glowing blue water, and the sight was so familiar courtesy of Katara that he felt something in him ease. “So, uh…” he began awkwardly as the woman began what felt like an extremely slow scan. “Research?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s nothing malicious, sorry. I’m sure that conversation was… odd, from your point of view. Most of the healers have certain elements of healing that they’ve studied more than others, different specialties I guess. I’ve always loved studying chi paths. I’m working on a thesis now about the chi paths of benders and nonbenders, their differences and similarities and what implications that has for healing.”</p><p>“That sounds… pretty interesting actually.”</p><p>“Thanks! I like to think so. We don’t have a lot of texts from before the war, but one I found says that firebenders use their chi to make fire, is that true?”</p><p>Zuko frowned, considering what he should say. Now he knew how Pakku had felt earlier. “That’s… kinda simplistic but technically, I guess. The chi within your body helps to be a conduit for your inner fire. I wouldn’t say that the chi itself makes the fire, but its close enough that functionally I guess you could say that.” He wasn’t sure if he should say that healing his chi would help his bending grow stronger, and he hoped that she would be too distracted to make the connection that she was obviously intelligent enough to make.</p><p>“Fascinating! That seems pretty unique to firebenders, then.” Her voice had taken on a strange, educational tone, and Zuko was pretty sure she was mentally filing the information into her thesis. It was probably this, the almost impersonal way she spoke about it-about him- that made him say what he said next.</p><p>“Well, not really. Chi is important for all bending. That’s why the chi blockers are so vital.”</p><p>“The <em>what</em>?”</p><p>They spoke throughout the medical scan, and gradually, the others in the medical tent seemed to thaw to him as well. One woman went so far as to <em>ruffle his hair </em>and say, “Now honey, you don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want too. Amka could talk about her thesis for a week straight and only just get done talking about the introduction.”</p><p>In retaliation, Amka used one hand to send a ball of snow down the woman’s coat, making her shriek. When the woman moved as though in revenge, Amka just pointed to her still-glowing hand pointedly, as though daring the other woman to move against her while she was working on a patient. The stranger’s glare promised retaliation when possible.</p><p>If anything, the exchange just made the scan even <em>longer</em> and Zuko had no clue what was going on. The palace medical rooms had been a familiar haunt in his childhood, firebending was dangerous and he had been pushed hard. Accidents and punishments for failure (and a particularly competitive sibling) had often sent him to the sterile, clinical room of stern-faced doctors employed by the palace. They were stern, working quickly and professionally and saying not a word more than the loosest expectation of bedside manner dictated.</p><p>He liked these healers better.</p><p>Finally, after what felt like forever, Amka lowered her hand and let the water slip into a pool in the center of the room. “Okay, so your chi is definitely weak. I would almost say sick, or recovering from being sick, but that’s not quite right either.”</p><p>“Starved.” Zuko said softly. “It’s like my chi was starved.”</p><p>The woman watched him, concern blossoming in her previously studious eyes, but after a moment she simply nodded. “That’s the best comparison I guess, sure. And honestly, starvation isn’t something that Water Healing can resolve, you need food. Or whatever the fire chi equivalent is.” She waited expectantly, but Zuko said nothing. After a moment, she sighed. “Okay, fair enough, but I’m going to assume you know what it is and just don’t want to tell me.”</p><p>“…yeah.”</p><p>“Do you know how to get it?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Fine. If that changes, as your healer I’m ordering you let me know.”</p><p>The part of Zuko that still remembered being a prince rankled at that, as some nobody presuming that they could give him orders. The rest of Zuko summarily told that part to shut up. “I will.”</p><p>“Okay. Now, while we can’t heal starvation with bending, we can usually help mitigate some of the effects. We can help some of the damage that starvation does on the organs and muscles, ect. So, there are elements to your chi that I think I can improve, it won’t get you all the way there, but it should help quite a bit.”</p><p>Zuko inhaled sharply. “Please, whatever you can do.”</p><p>The woman bit her lip. “Before I mess with anything, I want to look at that scroll with the firebending chi map, and I want to look at some healthy benders chi to make sure I am confident that what I’m doing will help. Come back this same time tomorrow, and we can start.”</p><p>Zuko’s lips twitched, urging him to scream and shout and <em>demand</em> that she heals him <em>now</em>. He hated spending one second weaker than he had to be, especially here, where it had already been proven that he had more enemies than friends.</p><p>Here where he would once again be forced to fight and betray his Nation for the privilege of being allowed to live.</p><p>He didn’t though, instead he simply rolled to his feet and bowed deeply. “Thank you for all of your hard work.” He forced himself to say and mean it.</p><p>The women in the room ‘cooed’ at him, and that was somehow worse than the earlier giggling, so he quickly made his way out of the hut.</p><p>It was still hours before mid-afternoon, and he wasn’t sure exactly what to do, which would have worried him if he hadn’t almost tripped directly into Sokka as he left the hut.</p>
<hr/><p>“Woah,” sokka exclaimed, cartwheeling his arms in attempt to keep upright as the two teens careened into one another. Zuko regained his balance much more smoothly.</p><p>Sokka wasn’t jealous.</p><p>The elder teen’s face was creased in concern almost immediately. “Why are you going to the healing hut? Did you get hurt, what happened?”</p><p>Sokka shook his head rapidly. He had <em>not </em>known that he was inviting another mother-saber-tooth-moose-lion onto the team when he found the scowl-y boy chained to a wall, but Zuko’s protective instincts were as big as his sense of self-preservation was small. That, combined with an <em>inability </em>(yes, inability not unwillingness) to give up was a combination that was as dangerous for Zuko as it was for anyone stupid enough to get in his way.</p><p>“I’m fine! The healing hut just happens to be next to the armory. I was going to see if I could convince them to donate some weapons the Avatar’s team.” He grinned, and was glad to see a quirk to Zuko’s lips in response. Then he caught up to what the other teen had asked. “Wait, what about you? Are you okay? Why are you at the healing hut? Did the waterbenders yesterday hurt you that badly? I swer I’ll-“  </p><p>“Master Pakku thought they might be able to help my chi.” Zuko interrupted the threat Sokka had no clue how to finish. Sokka blinked blankly at the explanation. Zuko sighed. “My <em>bending</em>.” He hissed, quieter.</p><p>“Oooohhhh, right. Did it help?”</p><p>“I don’t know. She says she wants to do some research first. I hope so.”</p><p>“You’ll get there buddy!” Sokka insisted cheerfully, turning towards the armory and smithery. The firebender moved as though to follow the Water Tribe teen.</p><p>“Hoping for an extra boomerang?”</p><p>“Nah, Dad always said that was more of a Southern Tribe thing, but now that you’ve been teaching me to swordfight, I figured I need something other than my machete-club.” More specifically, all of the sword training that Zuko had been subjecting him to since the Great Divide wouldn't do him much good if he had no sword. Using Zuko's was fine for <em>practice, </em>but didn't help much when Zuko needed his own weapons in any situation where swords were deemed necessary. </p><p>“The Water Tribe has swords?"</p><p>Sokka made a ‘so-so’ gesture as he pulled back the insulating hide doorway of the hut. “Not... really. We have more spears than anything, because that’s what works best for hunting, but there are some short spears with two sided blades that I think could function as a sword. I want to see.”</p><p>Zuko nodded idly, distracted the instant they entered the hut by row upon row of tall spears with a myriad of tips or metal, bone, and ivory. Sokka smiled around the room, something settling within him at the familiar sight of the well-maintained, hand crafted weapons, each one slightly varied from the next to show the craftman’s personality. He eyed the long spears for a moment, and while he’d been decent enough, he’d never excelled at it, not as he had been with the sword under Zuko’s tutelage.</p><p>He moved onto the shorter spears on a table, idly talking to the men working on weapons of their own as he tested the weight and feel. He chatted comfortably with the men, both to discuss weapons and to distract them from distrustfully eyeing the firebender being careful not to touch. After a while the conversation turned to what exactly he was looking for, and when he confessed that he had recently been trying out swordfighting, the men had shared a glance.</p><p>“You’ll have to ask Kamack, but we might…” One of them started, rummanging through a box of what appeared to be sub-par weapons and emerging with an above-par sword.</p><p>… it was a good thing the floors here were already made out of ice, because Sokka was <em>drooling. </em></p><p>It was <em>gorgeous, </em>longer and straighter than Zuko’s. The blade was the unique silver-white of his tribe’s weapons, it’s handle carved from sturdy wooly-rhinoceros femur and wrapped in leathered dyed Water Tribe blue. The guards was stark white, and carved in the jaggedly-flowy way that was evocative of every decorative weapon Sokka had admired with wide eyes growing up. The Water Tribe swordsman took the grip when it was offered, and nothing ever felt more like it belonged in his hand.</p><p>“Where did you get this?” Zuko asked, almost sounding accusatory as he eyed the weapon.</p><p>“Kamack made it.” One of the men said stiffly, unhappy to be speaking to the firebender at all. “He’s our most masterful craftsman. One of Master Pakku’s Pai Sho friends sent the design, something about every nation needing swords or something, I don’t know.”</p><p>“Master Piandao? This looks like his work.” Zuko said it in wonder, eyes shining as he clearly appreciated the beauty of the blade as much as Sokka.</p><p>The men shrugged. “Don’t know. Doubt it, that sounds like an awfully <em>Fire Nation</em> name, I doubt Master Pakku has anything to do with someone like that.”</p><p>The man said ‘Fire Nation’ like it was the most obscene swear and Sokka bristled in Zuko’s defense. The elder teen snarled, stepping forward with his hands folded into fists. The man immediately bent, grabbing a finished spear and moving into an aggressive position.</p><p>“Woah, woah woah, let’s uh, let’s maybe settle down a little bit.” Sokka intervened, stepping between the two.</p><p>For a very long, very tense moment nobody moved, but then the other Water Tribe man put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “He’s right. No need to do this in the armory. We can settle this later.”</p><p>“Fine.” Zuko spat.</p><p>“Fine.” The man repeated, the tone nearly identical. “But this afternoon, I’m sending you to ice so fast, you won’t remember how to stand for a week.”</p><p>Zuko snorted. “I doubt it.” Then he stalked out of the room, smoke pouring from his nose and baby-flames pooling on his clenched fists. Sokka hurriedly handed back the <em>incredible </em>blade, mentally promising to find Kamak and come back for his baby as soon as possible, before running after his friend.</p><p>What was happening this afternoon?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, sorry if you wanted... anything... to happen this chapter... at all, haha. A random OC appeared in the healing hut and suddenly had a personality??? Which I didn't intend on her having?? But she just took it. So...</p><p>Also I am very excited to give Sokka a sword early.</p><p>I hope you liked it!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>MY BUSY SEASON IS OVER!!! And guys, Imma be honest: it was a rough one.<br/>But now it's over and I survived and I'm BACK!! </p><p>With busy season being over, from this chapter on I do intend to respond to comments again! Thank you so much to everyone who leaves comments and who had left them when I wasn't responding!! You guys are AMAZING. </p><p>To address a comment that I'm getting a bit: This is not going to be Zukka. I am not a romance writer, I think I only have 1 fic where the MC is involved in a relationship, it's just not my thing. So this is going to be mostly gen with nods to canon relationships. </p><p>Also Marsetta suggested 'Snowy the Snow Sword' as the name of the Water Tribe sword I invented and it is the best and most Sokka thing I have ever heard and I wanted to give them a shoutout for that, because it's wonderful and I do intend to use it. </p><p>TW: Flashbacks, trauma, violence, PTSD, mention of men pursuing uninterested partners (AKA Zhao is a creep at court functions)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“No.” Sokka said, as though ‘I’m sparring with the waterbenders’ had been a question. The younger teen’s face was etched in a scowl and his arms were crossed as he watched Zuko with unwavering intensity.</p><p>Azula had been more intimidating when she was five.</p><p>“What do you mean, ‘no’?”</p><p>“I mean, you’re not doing it.”</p><p>“It isn’t your decision, Water Tribe.” Zuko said with a growl. It wasn’t his decision either.  If it was, he wouldn’t be doing it.</p><p>“Okay, one: that super creative nickname doesn’t work as well now that we are surrounded by the Water Tribe. Two: this is a <em>terrible </em>idea. This is like, Jet part 2, pure trauma juice. It will not end well.”</p><p>Zuko scowled. He <em>knew </em>all that, but Aang needed to learn waterbending and he didn’t want to know what the chief did to potential prisoners who weren’t <em>useful</em>. “I’ll be <em>fine. </em>I can handle it.”</p><p>“Maybe, but um, why are you trying to?”</p><p>The Fire Nation teen felt sparks spitting from his fingers, but he grit his teeth. He didn’t know how to explain, didn’t <em>want </em>to explain. He didn’t want to reveal the precarious tightrope he walked, even after contacting Uncle’s trusted friend. He didn’t want to show how perilously close he was to being kicked out or killed.</p><p>He wouldn’t be imprisoned.  Not again. If they tried…</p><p>Well, they would have to kick him out or kill him.</p><p>“It’s not your problem Sokka. Neither is this. I can handle myself.”</p><p>Sokka sighed heavily. “It’s like you never had friends before us. Just because you <em>can </em>handle this yourself, doesn’t mean you have to. If you’re really this determined to do this… for whatever stupid reason, I know I can’t stop you. I’ll be there. Aang and Katara would be there too, if they weren’t all busy wither their stupid water magic.”</p><p>“Why?” Zuko asked, electing not to respond to the ‘never had friends’ comment. He didn’t. It wasn’t hard to see who the favored child was, and the nobles were quick to pull their children out of the path of Ozai’s disappointment.  </p><p>“You know, to keep an eye on things. Put up boundaries, make sure nothing foes too far, do damage control when things inevitably do.”</p><p>“Oh… thanks.”</p><p>“Of course buddy.” Sokka was grinning broadly, before something behind Zuko caught his gaze. Zuko turned so that his good eye could see what had caught the other teen’s attention. It was the princess, of course, once more sailing through the town on a gondola.</p><p>Sokka sighed longingly and Zuko felt his lips give the barest of twitches. “Go on.”</p><p>Sokka spluttered loudly for several seconds before forming a coherent “What?”</p><p>“Ask her out. Or something.” Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. Was asking girls out a real thing or just a something that happened in plays? Nothing in his childhood in the royal court (where every marriage was arranged and wrapped in miles of political maneuvering) or his last three years in a cave (listening to Pipsqueak and Sneers vent about their crushes and hearing of Jet’s conquests) had really answered that question. The closest thing he’d ever had to a romantic relationship had never evolved beyond the tackle-them-into-a-fountain stage.</p><p>“Really? After that whole ‘do an activity’ thing? She probably thinks I’m an idiot.”</p><p>“You are an idiot. But you aren’t a quitter. So go over there and don’t come back until you have a date.” Zuko frowned and, thinking of how Captain Zhao used to spend entire balls hyper-focused on whatever completely uninterested noble he’d chosen to boot-lick on that date, amended. “Or until she says no. Don’t be a creep.”</p><p>“Right, okay, a date or a no. I can do this. Thank’s buddy.”</p><p>And suddenly Sokka was running along the gondala, and the princess was smiling and laughing and blushing. Zuko let out a sigh of relief. He’d given good advice <em>and </em>they had stopped talking about the training that was now only a few hours away. Double win.</p><p>Then Sokka walked into the canal.</p><p>Triple win.</p><p>Zuko had to fight to keep from laughing as he ran to his friend, but was unable to keep the smile from his lips as the drenched teen flopped onto the ground with a content sigh. “Worth it.”</p><p>Zuko snorted and crouched next to the other teen, offering a hand up. Sokka accepted it and shucked off his dripping coat, handing it to Zuko. The elder teen rolled his eyes, seam floated above the coat like a cloud as he bent enough heat to dry it. Royal firebending was <em>not </em>meant for doing simple chores. He didn’t mention that though, he didn’t want to start talking about what royal firebending <em>was </em>for.</p><p>“I take it she said yes?” He asked, handing back the coat and accepting the gloved. He had to constantly push back the sleeves of his borrowed coat as he did so, but even so the fur lining of his cuffs were already showing the brittleness of hair that had gone far too dry.</p><p>“Yeah.” Sokka said, smiling dopily. “We’re going to hang out tonight, after dinner.” After training. “Did you see her smile?”</p><p>“What are you going to do?”</p><p>Sokka’s head shot to him, panicked. “Wait, what am we going to do? Oh man, I haven’t ever been on a real date, not really. Unless you count Suki, but I don’t think Yue will be interested in making me wear a dress and beating me up.”</p><p>“What.”</p><p>“Suki is the leader of the Kyoshi warriors.”</p><p>That made more sense. Zuko checked the sky. They still had a few hours before training. He thought. It was hard to measure time using a sun that was only up a few hours a day. “Maybe you should find her something pretty. Don’t girls like stuff like that?”</p><p>“Yeah! Or, hey, I could <em>make </em>her something pretty. You know, I’m a pretty good carver.”</p><p>“… you mean like how you’re a pretty good artist?”</p><p>“Exactly!”</p><p>“Let’s go buy her something pretty.”</p>
<hr/><p>Zuko took a deep breath and swung his swords in a simple, lazy kata. Pakku had allowed for them to ring the training area with torches, and those nearest followed the path of his blade and chi. Amusingly enough, the <em>brave </em>warriors were all careful to stand on the other side of the ring of flames, other than Sokka of course, who stood beside Zuko like a particularly ineffective guard dog-gazelle. </p><p>Pakku hadn’t arrived yet, but the two tribesmen who had been in the armory were, and they were glaring nastily at Zuko, though they stayed on the outside of the torches along with everyone else. There were dozens of men, presumably waterbenders, all ranging at just around Sokka’s age to just under Pakku’s. There were a crowd of others on the other side of the training area, people who clearly were not waterbenders, but were eager to watch the Water Tribe gang up on the strange firebender. </p><p>Was <em>sparring </em>honestly what constituted entertainment in this frozen wasteland? </p><p>Zuko ignored the voice in his mind that reminded him of a full Agni Kai arena and the supposedly well-attended Earth Kingdom fighting rings. Fighting constituted entertainment <em>everywhere. </em>He brushed that off though. He knew that firebending came from fury, from passion.He was holding onto every bit of gumbling annoying that rose in his mind, on the chance that it could produce even a single extra lick of flame. He’d shed the coat, replacing it for wrappings along his arm like Sokka’s to keep warm. He wasn’t optimistic enough to convince himself that he would actually produce enough flame to harm the heavy coat, but he just didn’t think he could fight in it. </p><p>And you didn’t have to be optimistic to take precautions. You just could hope that your precautions would be necessary. </p><p>He recognized a couple of healers in the crowd as well, though neither Yugoda nor Amka were among them. It was stupid to wish they were, he didn’t <em>know </em>them, they wouldn’t <em>help, </em>but… It would have been nice to have <em>one </em>adult who didn’t hate him. Who could possibly be on his side, maybe.</p><p>Zuko went into another kata to ignore how much that statement fit into his life as a whole, rather than just his immediate situation. </p><p>“You still sure you want to-” Sokka began, and Zuko pulled himself from his kata to  swipe the air with one of his dao. </p><p>“Yes. I’m fine. Quit asking.” </p><p>Sokka let out a deep, aggrieved sigh but thankfully didn’t say anything else. If Sokka kept pointing out how stupid of an idea this obviously was, he might actually lose his nerve and back out, and that would be even worse. </p><p>“Katara and Aang?” He asked, tersely. </p><p>“Can’t come. Pakku passed them off to a different master, or masters I guess he sent them to different ones? Either way, they’re still practicing.” </p><p>“Good.” He didn’t want them to have to see this. He didn’t even want <em>Sokka</em> to see this, but somehow he wanted to be alone even less, so...</p><p>Wordlessly, the crowd began to part, revealing the ever-scowling face of Pakku. He looked even angrier than normal. Maybe they <em>shouldn’t </em>have scheduled this for <em>after </em>an easily-distracted Aang and a likely furious Katara had spent all day trying his patience. The man’s glare landed on Sokka, who had placed himself between Paaku and Zuko the instant the man entered.</p><p>“May I help you?” Pakku asked snidely.</p><p>“Nope.” Sokka said, casually crossing his arms behind his head. “I’m just here to keep an eye on things.” His tone, body language, and words all seemed relaxed, but he somehow was able to convey an air of seriousness any way, in a way that had Pakku eyeing him.</p><p>Zuko rolled his eyes and pushed the other teen to the spectators, startled to see Amka had appeared in the crowd, sitting in a snowbank nestled against a Water Tribe man. She waved at Zuko when he caught her eye, a book on her lap that she proudly brandished at him. From the distance he could somewhat make out the basic shape of a human with dots and lines all over it. A chi map?</p><p>Despite himself, Zuko settled somewhat, and by the time he looked back, Pakku and Sokka had settled whatever staring match could happen between the greatest living waterbender and a novice swordsman with decent boomerang skills. The elder man was speaking with his warriors, laying out the rules of the fight, so Zuko stepped forward to listen as well.  </p><p>It was pretty straightforward, a sparring match not intended to hurt either party, the other warriors were expected to watch and learn, bla bla. He did explain that Zuko’s bending was limited in a way that others may not be, but overall there simply wasn’t much to say. This was a fight, nothing more. Finally the man finished, nodding at one of the senior waterbenders to take step into the ring.</p><p>It was empty now, other than Zuko. Sokka was hovering on the outskirts, but the ring of torches created a clear barrier between fighting ring and not fighting ring and he was respecting it. Zuko folded into a stance as the Waterbender did the same, and spared a half second to wish that the sun stayed up longer, and that the cloudy-grey of the sky above didn’t seem so similar to the underside of a rocky cave.</p><p>Then, he wasn’t thinking, he was <em>fighting. </em></p><p>It wasn’t… bad, actually. The most experienced men went first, so that the youngest men would fight him when he was tired and after they had learned the most. Each fight only lasted a few minutes, and the men were generous with granting breaks for Zuko. Pakku was making sure that neither side got out of hand, the healers hurrying into the field after each fight, for Zuko and the Water Tribe men alike. Amka and the woman who had been teasing her made sure to be there for Zuko, throwing cheeky looks at the women they beat to get to him. It was nice.  </p><p>Fighting waterbenders was different, and the same. A whip of water was little different than an actual offensive whip, and ice spikes acted the same as throwing daggars. However, the men could fight from a greater distance, had greater control over their weapons, and could bring <em>full walls </em>up around him.</p><p>He wished he could firebend better.</p><p>It would be so easy to just block that water wall with a flame shield, dispel that blast of ice with melting flame, but he could use only what he could pull from the existing torches and so his actual bending was limited. He relied mostly on his dual dao, which wasn’t exactly a hindrance. As the night wore on, he grew more tired but the breaks and healing kept him from getting exhausted, and the men grew younger and less skilled. Those old enough to have been trained by men who had actually fought in the war 80 years ago showed evidence of the training of men preparing for an actual threat. Each generation afterwards was worse as complacency and the feeling of safety dulled their trainings. They fought, but not like the elders, in a way that was different than simple inexperience.</p><p>All in all, it wasn’t… bad. It was lucky that he had been helping Katara practice for a while. She didn’t know nearly as many moves as these men, but she used the ones she did know much better than most of the younger ones. The sun had set and left them in darkness, but the setting was different enough that… that it was okay.</p><p>He shouldn’t have let his guard down.</p>
<hr/><p>This was going much better than Sokka would ever have thought it would. The main magic-water-dude was keeping things from going to far, some of the healers were doting on him like mother-otter-hens, and Zuko was, of course, kicking butt.</p><p>Not that the waterbenders were bad, especially the older ones, but Zuko was a force of nature. He pulled the flames from the torches in bursts, melting through blocks of ice and disrupting waves of water as his dual dao flashed silver streaks into the air. Sokka had felt a bit of ‘that’s my friend’ pride when he’d heard one of the non-benders watching curse after Zuko had somehow used a wave of ice shooting towards him as leverage to flip <em>over</em> his opponent and cross his swords at their neck from behind. “Do all firebenders fight like that?”</p><p>Sokka made a so-so gesture. “Most are better at fire, much worse at swords.”</p><p>At that moment, a different bender had tried getting closer to Zuko, and the teen had responded by spitting sparks that sent the benders hood alight. He had to pause to pat it out and Zuko used the distraction to kick his legs out from under him, sending the waterbender flat on his back on the ice. The non-bender next to Sokka eyed Zuko’s mouth warily.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Really.”</p><p>So in conclusion, Zuko was being predictably impressive, Waterbending Master Sourpuss was being unpredictability chill, all in all, not as bad as it could have been.</p><p>Which was, of course, when one of the jerks from the armory stepped forward for their turn. The man had a hard sneer etched across his face. Unsurprisingly, his buddy stepped forward with him. Somewhat surprisingly, the buddy held a short spear in his hand, unlike the waterbenders. The bender bowed to Master Pakku, while the other’s sneer didn’t leave Zuko.</p><p>“Master, since the firebender is using weapons and bending, Yunlak and I would like to fight him as a team, as waterbender and warrior.”</p><p>NOPE. This was bad. Sokka narrowed his eyes at Pakku, determined to step in and put his foot down if the old man dared to even look like he was considering it. (as though they would care about the opinion of a 15 year old stranger over their greatest master. That wasn’t important, he <em>would </em>put his foot down whether thy liked it or not.)  This was the worst plan, you would have to be an idiot to- oh no.</p><p>Zuko pointed both swords at the men, arms head straight out and shoulders squared. It should have looked idiotic, but of course it looked awesome. “I accept your challenge, and when I win it will do nothing but shame you and prove my skill.”</p><p>“You wanna bet?” Yunlak snarled</p><p>Pakku snarled. “This is not about ‘proving skill’ or settling petty arguments. This is a <em>training</em> exercise.”</p><p>Ah Pakku, such a valiant attempt to protect Zuko from his own lack of self-preservation. How nice to still have that kind of hope.</p><p>Zuko simply breathed out deeply, causing the torch flames to flare as he fell into a fighting stance. Pakku angrily grumbled something about ‘teenaged ego’, but did nothing to actually stopped the fight once the two others fell into place. Which fair enough, nothing he said was going to stop this. Though…</p><p>“Just for the record,” Sokka shouted to Zuko. “This is a terrible idea and you definitely shouldn’t do it.”</p><p>“Shut up!”</p><p>Sokka sighed. “Yeah, I thought that’s what you’d say.” He glanced at one of the nice healers who seemed to really like Zuko. “I would try harder if I thought I could actually get him to listen, but…”</p><p>She laughed, and subtly filled her waterskin. She was quick on the uptake.</p><p>At first it wasn’t too bad. A little more intense than the other fights, but they were decently well matched. Zuko started with firebending, moving the flames in the torches to create an ‘X’ separating the bender as he went after the nonbender with his swords.</p><p>The warrior ducked under the first swipe of the dao, deflected the other off to the side and went in with the spear, stabbing towards Zuko’s scar. The firebender ducked out of the way, disengaging with a kick aimed at the man’s wrist. The kick landed, but even as the warrior cried out in pain, his grip on his weapon didn’t falter and he was soon crouched and ready to attack again. The waterbending friend moved forward then, creating a wave of ice behind Zuko. Yunlak lunged forwark with his spear, Zuko jumped back, bumping into the wall.</p><p>Sokka caught a quick look of <em>something </em>in Zuko’s eyes and almost attempted to call the fight, but it faded just as quickly, so he held back.</p><p>Well accustomed to fighting with restrictions, the firebender barely seemed to process the barrier before he was spinning out of the way, pulling a stream of fire from the torch to cause a momentary barrier between him and the warrior.</p><p>The waterbender’s brow creased in focus as he moved his arms and feet purposely, brining up a curving wall to contain the Fire Nation teen. Zuko snarled as he caught on, then leaped and gripped the top of the wall, using it to swing and kick the warrior in the face. Yunlak stumbled back, and Zuko jumped down to advance with his swords held high and ready. The bender cried out in surprise, shooting forward with his fists. A pair of ice rings moved forward, and Zuko deflected one with his dao, but the other closed against his right wrist, covering old scars as it pinned him to the ice wall.</p><p>Yunlak smirked as he straightened, radiating smugness as he stepped toward the bound teen. Zuko let out a loud cry, and the ice around his wrist burst in a near explosion, steam billowing in the air as the teen’s flesh superheated. Yunlak yelped as the shards flew towards him, and barely got his spear up in time to deflect a harsh strike from Zuko. The warrior wrenched his arms, sending both his spear and one of Zuko’s swords flying through the air. The teen snarled in fury and continued to advance. The Water Tribe man scrambled backwards, well aware that <em>something </em>had changed.</p><p>The bender stepped forward, preparing to defend his friend when Zuko suddenly stopped, jerking as though held back by an invisible tether. He snarled, casting out insults as he paced a semi-circle into the snow, right wrist held oddly behind him as he brandished his remaining swords in his left hand. The two Watertribesmen shared a puzzled glance before the warrior shrugged, smirked again, and scooped his spear from the icy ground. He moved as though to advance on Zuko again, but Sokka had started sprinting for the circle around the time Zuko started holding his wrist <em>like that </em>and grabbed Zuko’s discarded dao. Sokka hit the wood/bone handle of the spear with the sword blade long before it could cross into Zuko’s invisible barrier.</p><p>He twisted expertly, and in his surprise, the spearman once more lost his weapon. Sokka growled. “The fight is over.” He looked over his opponent’s shoulder to lock eyes with the bender. “Stand <em>down</em>.”</p><p>“Do what he says.” Pakku instructed calmly, before either of the younger tribesmen could even make a face. Sokka glanced back to see that the master bender had leveled out the ice walls, opening the area around the firebender, though Zuko continued to angrily pace that same semicircle. “This has gone on long enough.”</p><p>Murmerings of confusion and concern filled the training area as the spectators watched the seemingly feral bender, and several of the waterbenders had tensed as thought preparing for a fight.</p><p>“What is happening?” Pakku asked him sharply, but Sokka didn’t answer. He had more important things to think about.</p><p>Sokka’s heart was beating in his chest, several times too fast. Zuko had that same look in his eyes as earlier, the same look as he’d had back in the divide. It was a dangerous look, and Sokka needed to think of a way to get him to cut it out before one of the waterbenders tried to take things into his own hands. Taking a deep breath, and a quick plea to Tui and La that this would work, Sokka turned so that his back was to Zuko, and whistled a familiar melody.</p><p>Zuko’s steps faltered. They started up again almost immediately, but his snarls and curses stopped and he was no longer sparking. The younger teen turned to Zuko with forced cheer. He said, hopefully softly enough that not many of the spectators or warriors could hear, “Oh wow, did you hear that Zuko? Foods here. You know the rules, if you want to eat, I’m going to need that sword.”</p><p>Zuko shouted insults, jerking his right wrist as though he wanted to bring it forward and couldn’t.</p><p>“Come on man, I know you know what’s up, I’m starving. Just… chill out and give me the swords, and we’ll be good.”</p><p>Zuko had stopped pacing, and was watching Sokka consideringly, but his grip on the weapon only tightened. Sokka swallowed. He was certain that Zuko saw nothing but enemies right now, that he was one of them. He didn’t want to push the other teen, but he wasn’t sure what else to do. From behind him, Sokka heard a copy of the whistle he had made. It wasn’t perfect, several notes were off, but evidently it was close enough. Zuko angrily threw the dao into the ground outside his self-made circle, then marched into the center and sat on the icy tundra floor with his arms crossed like a petulant child.</p><p>Sokka breathed a deep sigh of relief, moved forward and sat beside Zuko as he had done that first day in the cave. He pulled a pair a few slices of seal jerky out of his pockets and offered a handful to Zuko, who accepted them with an affronted huff.</p><p>It took several moments of sitting in silence, the water tribe members slowly trickling away at Pakku and the healers’ insistence, before the teen’s gaze cleared completely. It took too long, and Sokka spent every moment dreading that they wouldn’t clear, that he hadn’t tried enough to stop it and had therefore doomed his friend to be stuck in a horrible flashback indefinitely.</p><p>That he would have to tell Katara and Aang about this.</p><p>The moment Zuko came back was almost visceral, Zuko letting out a deep, shuddering breath which would likely feature in Sokka’s nightmares for <em>weeks. </em>Then, the firebender groaned, dropping his head in his hands.</p><p>“I have never been this embarrassed in my entire life. Do you know how high of a bar that is Sokka? But this, this takes fire flame-cake.” Zuko flopped onto his back in the snow over-dramatically.</p><p>Relief burst into his heart so intensely and powerfully that a startled laugh of pure joy left him. “Good to have you back, buddy.” He pet his friends hair as the two hovering healers finally descended upon him.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys!! Thank you al SO MUCH for your comments and kudos!! I love hearing what you think about my story and your theories.</p><p>Got a fun surprise POV here that I hope you all enjoy! </p><p>Thank you for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pakku watched with a scowl on his lined lips as two of the tribes most talented healers mother otter-henned the firebender. Zuko was sitting on the ground and accepting their hovering with his typical scowl, though he patiently followed their instructions without complaint.</p><p>The Southern Tribe boy was standing over him like a guard dog, silently motioning for one of the few remaining spectators to bring him one of the torches. Zuko had extinguished every last one during his… episode, but most tribesmen and women were familiar enough with the winter cold and darkness to always keep a pair of spark rocks in their pockets. The torches had been lit within moments of the fight’s termination.</p><p>Kamack handed the boy one of the lit torches, and Sokka stuck it into the snow next to Zuko immediately. The Firebender glanced at the other teen in blatant gratitude before answering a question from Amka. Sokka took a step back from his friend, still hovering nearby, and Pakku sidled up to him, scowling. “What. Was. <em>That?</em>”</p><p>“That,” The teen replied, flat and unimpressed and disrespectful in a way that Pakku probably deserved at the moment. “Was what happens when you grab a ton of different pieces of Zuko’s <em>many many </em>traumas and mix them together into some kind of horrible flashback stew.”</p><p>The boy narrowed his eyes at Pakku, a scowl on his young face. “Look, what Zuko needs right now is good friends who don’t let him down, so I’m not about to spill his secrets to the first scowl-y dude who accidentally triggers him. But just look at him,” The teen gestured at where the firebender was sitting still, Amka holding glowing blue water to his leg and slowly running it up his body as a check up. The boy was still blushing from his earlier embarrassment, and somehow the redness in his cheeks highlighted his scar in a way that the earlier paleness hadn’t. “A blind and deaf man could tell immediately that he’s been through… a lot. You don’t seem like a complete idiot, I’m sure you could have figured it out.”</p><p>Pakku bristled, but found himself… unable to argue. The youth was correct. Zuko literally had evidence of his trauma painted across his face. Pakku knew the basics of that story well enough, the Grand Lotus had included it in one of his several pleas to look after, and later look for, his nephew. He had thought that a few simple sparring matches against men wielding an entirely different element, in the dark and cold, would be too different from the hot, bright, firey Agni Kai to trigger the boy.</p><p>He had… failed to really consider the negative effects of sparring, beyond that. He could remember that first letter from the Grand Lotus, how he had felt empathy for the boy, but had largely cast the note from his memory. After all, it was unlikely that a Fire Nation child released in the Earth Kingdom would ever truly make their way to the North Pole, certainly not without the help of other members of the White Lotus who would give him more up to date information. When new letters came in months later, also from the Grand Lotus but this time begging for news, he had felt the pang of empathy again, this time for Iroh. He had known, even if Iroh refused to realize it, that either the boy had been killed, or was not the man Iroh thought him to be and refused their help when he realized who was on the list: waterbenders, earthbenders, and desserters.</p><p>When the letters continued for years, without a single dot to indicate any members of their expansive network had seen the boy, the empathy had given way to annoyance and pity. He had thought that the boy was clearly dead, and Iroh’s denial was not helping the man, the war, or their organization. He had been… unimpressed to finally come face to face with the boy, to realize that his other suspicion was correct. Zuko was a hotheaded teen with a temper, who clearly did not have any intention to use his Uncle’s generous and dangerous secret until he had no other choice.</p><p>He hadn’t looked much beyond that earlier assumption, even when the boy proved to be fairly respectful (for a firebender) and trusted by the Avatar himself. He hadn’t looked beyond it when he saw the way that the boy fiercely guarded his right wrist, hiding the heavy scars yet unwilling to let anything touch it. He hadn’t looked beyond how obvious it was that the scars came from shackles. He hadn’t looked beyond the boys claim that he lost his firebending in a process that took <em>years</em>. He hadn’t looked beyond the cagy way he looked at all walls, or the way he tried to always have a window in sight.</p><p>He hadn’t liked those pieces, didn’t like how clear of a picture they made, how different that picture was from the narrative he had created, and so he ignored them. He couldn’t ignore them now. Not after seeing the boy’s sudden panic, hearing Sokka’s words, feeling the ghost of a whistle that was playing at his lips. No, he couldn’t ignore all that. It was startling to realize he had such a weakness, that he could lie to himself so completely.</p><p>Pakku scowled, aiming the expression at Sokka as he physically couldn’t turn it on himself, no matter that he knew where the blame truly lay. “I see. Why then, if this was such a bad idea, did it happen? Neither of you brought these concerns to me.”</p><p>“See, that I don’t know. You said <em>something </em>to him that made him think that he <em>has </em>to do this. Whatever it is, you are going to shut it down. Immediately.” The boy spoke with his head held high, a simple youth barely past his manhood ceremonies, several inches shorter than Pakku, wielding neither weapon nor bending. Yet despite that, he looked Pakku in the eye as an equal, no, as someone who’s commands would be followed.</p><p>What was the state of the supposedly decimated Southern Tribe, if they could produce a young man like this, while the best option for future chief for the Northern Tribe was <em>Hahn</em>?</p><p>“Understood. Though, I doubt that will be necessary.” He rose a pointed eyebrow at the scene around them.</p><p>Sokka, surprisingly, let out a sardonic laugh. “Oh to be that Zuko-naïve. No, assuming he will understand that this made you realize that this was obviously a terrible idea <em>will not work</em>. He’ll show up tomorrow all, ready to play soak the firebender. It’s not his fault, he spent the last three years in… he’s bad at socials skills. No, you need to sit him down and make it <em>explicitly clear </em>that he doesn’t have to do this. Got it?”</p><p>What indeed.</p><p>“I understand. Ensure that he understands that he is still here under my recommendation, and I expect him in my home tonight. I will talk with him.” Without looking behind him, Pakku left the boy behind. Arnook would have undoubtably already heard about this event, juicy gossip such as this quickly found it’s way to the palace. He would want Pakku’s counsel on how they should proceed. The man wouldn’t expect the firebender to continue fighting any more than Pakku did, but would expect a new reason for why they should allow him to stay.</p><p>Pakku would go with the only excuse they should have ever needed: the firebender was a child. He wanted to do good. There was little that this world needed more than Fire Nation children who knew what it truly meant to do good.</p>
<hr/><p>Sokka breathed out in deep relief as the waterbending master left, then gave into the temptation playing at the back of his mind and stuck his tongue out at the man’s back.</p><p>There was a chuckle <em>way too close</em> and Sokka yelped and cartwheeled his arms to keep from falling over as he turned to see the man who had handed him the torch was still standing nearby.</p><p>“Sorry.” The man said, but his not-completely-stifled grin revealed that as a lie.</p><p>“You’re good.” Sokka said, voice too high pitched and arms still held at weird angles. He cleared his throat and stood more normally, his voice deepening in pitch. “I mean, you’re good. I just didn’t realize you were still there.”</p><p>The man shrugged, and eyed Sokka shrewdly before pointing at the dao he had left lying in the snow. Sokka startled and moved to pick it up, eyes scanning the snowy area for a hint to where Zuko had thrown the other sword. “You were skilled with that.”</p><p>“Thanks! Zuko’s been teaching me. He says I’m more suited to a broadsword than a dao, but we’ve been making it work.”</p><p>“Hm. Come to the Armory tomorrow. There is something there that may… be of interest to you.”</p><p>Sokka found the other sword mostly buried and held it up triumphantly. Then he blinked as the man’s words computed. He felt like there should be an obvious… “Wait, are you Kamack? You made that sword!”</p><p>The man scowled, then laughed. “Aw, there went my air of mystery. Who spilled the corn-beans about that? I wanted to try my hand at being aloof.”</p><p>“Jerk 1 and his buddy, Water-Jerk 1. We saw them in the forge earlier.”</p><p>“Ah. I suppose it did not go well.”</p><p>“Nah. Zuko existed in their presence, apparently that was enough to forge a blood feud.”</p><p>The man nodded, seeming solemn at that. “I apologize for them. Their behavior today was…”</p><p>Sokka shook his head. “They aren’t your responsibility.”</p><p>“No, but they are my tribe, so I will apologize when it is clear that they will not.”</p><p>“It’s uh, not really me you should be apologizing to.”</p><p>The man nodded. “Fair. I would still like to welcome you to the armory tomorrow. I did not create that sword to be a decoration. I feel it is an insult to this weapon that it is not in use after all I had done to make it powerful. However, the way it looked being wielded by people without training… somehow, that was like an insult plus a spit to it’s face. My blade needs to be used, needs to be with someone who knows how to use it. No promises, but I’d like to see what you can do with it.”</p><p>Sokka gaped. “Really?” He squeaked, and the man just chuckled in reply stepping around him to go to Zuko, who he spoke to formally with a little bowing. Zuko looked supremely awkward, so Kamack probably was actually apologizing like he’d said. The man smiled at Zuko’s stammered reply and nuzzled Amka lightly before leaving the training ground with a wave. The healer looked at the man fondly, tugging at her necklace, before turning back to Zuko.</p><p>Sokka stepped forward to hear the last of her instructions. “-chi looks about the same as this morning, so nothing is worse there. And you don’t seem to have a concussion or anything like that.” She sounded almost apologetic. “Physically, you are about as healthy as you can be.”</p><p>Zuko groaned and buried his red face into his hands. “I know <em>that</em>.” He grumbled, only looking up when Sokka poked at him lightly with one of the dao. He accepted the blades and slid them into his sheath before bowing his thanks to the healers. “Thank you for your help. I’ll see you in the morning?”</p><p>“Of course.” Amka said, as the other healer nodded.</p><p>“We’ll see you there.”</p><p>Zuko stalked to the edge of the arena and grumpily threw his anorak on. “Aren’t you late for something?” He asked.</p><p>Sokka’s face scrunched in confusion, before suddenly panic surged through him. <em>Yue! </em>Was he late? No, not yet, but he would be soon if he didn’t…</p><p>The teen sighed. He hoped Yue understood. (She probably would, she was the <em>best</em>) “I’m not leaving you after all… that. Come on, she can’t be too mad at me for just helping out a friend.” (He hoped)</p><p>“Sokka, you aren’t giving up on a date because of me. Who knows when you’ll get another chance.”</p><p>Was that an insult? OR one of Zuko's not-jokes? Or one of Zukos I'm-trying-to-jokes? “Hey!”</p><p>“I’m serious.” Zuko said, smirk gone. “You got to come… not home, but something close. That’s important Sokka, you should enjoy it as much as you can. The Fire Festival did that for me, and you were all really good sports about it. I won’t be the one who get’s in the way of that for you.”</p><p>Sokka frowned, prepared to argue when the elder teen interrupted. “Plus, that was the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t really want to be around… anyone who saw that for a while.”</p><p>“Are you sure? I really don’t think-“</p><p>“I’M FINE! GO ON YOUR STUPID DATE, I WON’T SAY IT AGAIN!”</p><p>Sokka grinned, somehow Zuko was his most honest when he was yelling. His heart soared in his chest, Yue, here he came. “Okay, but you remember the way to our rooms? Katara and Aang should be there at some point if they aren’t already. Oh and-“</p><p>“Just <em>go</em>.” Zuko said, grabbing Sokka by the shoulders and physically leading him from the training area. Sokka grinned as he broke the other teen’s hold and started running for the bridge.</p><p>He had a date with a princess.</p>
<hr/><p>Zuko came into the room to find Aang and Katara moping. Mood. He stalked past them to the bed and pile of pillows in the corner and flopped down face first. As one, they let out melancholic sighs. “What happened to you?” Aang asked after a moment of companionable, miserable silence.</p><p>“I just humiliated myself in front of almost the entire tribe. I do <em>not </em>want to talk about it. You?”</p><p>“Waterbending is <em>really </em>hard.”</p><p>“At least you’re <em>learning </em>waterbending. They don’t let women to bend! Of all the insane, ridiculous, sexist… Can you <em>believe </em>it?”</p><p>She whirled on Zuko. Her anger was spilling over and splashing like a bucket full of water, landing everywhere but somehow sparing Zuko completely.</p><p>He mentally resolved to never, ever let her know that he knew about that ahead of time.</p><p>“It’s ridiculous.” He said honestly. “Bending and gender are completely unrelated. My little sister was one of the best firebenders I’ve ever met. We have hundreds of female firebenders in our armies.”</p><p>“Well chalk another one up for ‘things about the Fire Nation that are kinda good’! A starling lack of sexism.”</p><p>“Hey, that’s almost five!” Aang said brightly, somehow managing not to sound sarcastic.</p><p>Zuko snorted and lifted off from his bed faceplant. “Its idiotic that they aren’t letting you bend, Katara. Honestly, you are a lot better than most of the novice benders here.”</p><p>The girl frowned. “How do you know how good the normal benders are?”</p><p>Zuko flushed brightly, his entire face going red as he remembered completely losing control of himself in front of what felt like half of the North Pole. To the point that Sokka had to do the stupid meal whistle just to stop him from- from doing something he’d regret. From making himself into an enemy as well as a fool. He buried his head into his hands with a loud groan, wishing that he could burn hot enough to just melt out of the room and conversation. “I don’t want to talk about it.”</p><p>Katara frowned, glancing around the room of miserable children. “Where’s Sokka?”</p><p>Zuko perked, embarrassment falling away as he turned to her, smile playing at his lips. It wasn’t often that <em>he </em>was the bearer of good news, and this had the added benefit of not being about the sparring disaster. “He’s on a <em>date!” </em></p><p>Aang gasped, sending out a puff of air that landed with him perched on the end of the bed Zuko was sitting on, eyes wide under his arrow. “Really?!”</p><p>Katara blinked. “What.”</p><p>“With the <em>princess</em>.”</p><p>“WHAT?” She shrieked. “When did he get a date with the princess?”</p><p>“About 30 seconds before he fell into the canal.”</p><p>Aang laughed, “He fell into the canal?”</p><p>Zuko grinned, and for a moment he felt like a storyteller, a grand shaper of events, a narrator for a play. He told the story of Sokka and the date and the shopping trip. He distracted his friends from their woes, and him from his own, for just a moment.</p><p>It felt… really good.</p>
<hr/><p>They had long since stopped talking about Sokka when the teen came into the room and flopped directly onto one of the beds face first. Zuko frowned. He hadn’t seemed that melodramatic had he?</p><p>… he probably looked more melodramatic.</p><p>“That bad, huh?” Katara asked, clearly caught between laughter and sympathy.</p><p>“I just don’t get it. One minute she wants to go out with me, the next she’s telling me to get lost.”</p><p>“I’m sorry Sokka.”</p><p>The boy sighed heavily, looking to Zuko as if in support. As if he knew <em>anything </em>about dating. Rabbit-deer in the torchlight, Zuko could only parrot what he’d said the first time Sokka had made a fool of himself. “That’s rough buddy.” He frowned, tilting his head in thought. “She is a princess though. Maybe that’s part of it, sometimes things like dating are different for royalty.”</p><p>“Maybe.” He sighed heavily. “Or maybe she just realized super quickly that she doesn’t like me.”</p><p>“That’s can’t be it!” Aang near-shouted. “You’re great Sokka!”</p><p>“Don’t think like that,” Katara admonished. “Any girl would be lucky to have you. Well, assuming you ever learn how to wash your own socks.”</p><p>That startled a laugh out of Sokka and he shook his head. “Whatever, enough about me, how did waterbending training go?”</p><p>“Master Poop-head won’t teach her, because she’s a girl.”</p><p>“Why don’t you just teach her?” Sokka asked immediately.</p><p>… this is why Azula was the smart one.</p><p>“Why didn’t I think of that?” Katara exclaimed, pure excitement filling her voice as her eyes shone in excitement. She pushed herself to her feet, nearly vibrating with energy. “At night you can teach me whatever moves you learn from Master Pakku! That way, you have someone to practice with and I get to learn waterbending. Everyone’s happy!”</p><p>“I’m not happy.” Sokka grumbled, grumpy.</p><p>“But you’re never happy.” Katara retorted immediately.</p><p>“No, that’s Zuko.”</p><p>Zuko scowled… then stopped because he was just proving Sokka’s point. Katara didn’t seem to notice, dragging Aang out the door. Zuko contemplated following them for a moment, he and Katara often practiced their limited bending skills together to try and build off of each other’s knowledge or techniques, but he decided that he would ultimately be more of a distraction than anything now that Aang could teach her actual moves. He would have plenty of time to bend with her later, when she was more confident.</p><p>Sokka sighed again, fiddling with the pretty hairpin that they had found in the market.</p><p>“She didn’t like it?”</p><p>“I barely got the chance to show it to her. I almost threw it into the canal.” He confessed.</p><p>Unsure what to say in response to that, Zuko awkwardly pat the other teen’s back. Sokka sighed and half rolled over. “It’s fine. Maybe… maybe I can talk to her later, ask what I did wrong.”</p><p>“I guess.”</p><p>Sokka shook his head. “How about you, are you doing okay?”</p><p>Zuko scowled. He could appreciate that Sokka would want to pull the conversation away from his date, but did it have to be to <em>that. </em>“I said I’m <em>fine</em>.” He said, unable to stop from raising his voice on the last word as shame and fear rushed through him. He <em>hated</em> losing… losing control of himself like that. He hated that it felt like someone else, a desperate and scared shadow of himself, would take over his body. He hated that he knew that the shadow was <em>him</em>, who he had been, who he could be. He hated that it came without warning, without way to stop it.</p><p>He hated that it would probably happen again.</p><p>He hated it and feared it and it shamed him because he <em>should </em>be strong enough to be over this. Anger bubbled within him as the three emotions roiled within him and he just wanted to <em>scream. </em>At Sokka. At himself. At Pakku. At Jet. At the Water Tribe men. At his father. At the <em>world. </em>He felt like if he let the fuse ignite, he may never stop screaming.</p><p>Luckily, Sokka didn’t try to push the issue. He put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, you’re fine. Got it. Pakku did tell me he wants to make sure you knew that you were still expected to stay at his place though. So no sleepovers.” He said the last words with exaggerated sorrow, and Zuko rolled his eyes.</p><p>“You say that like we didn’t spend the past <em>months</em> having sleepovers.”</p><p>“That’s camping, that doesn’t count.”</p><p>Fighting not to roll his eyes <em>again</em>, Zuko rose to his feet. He was exhausted, and Pakku would certainly still want to <em>talk</em>, to make sure he still understood his role. Might as well get this over with. “I’m heading back now, then.”</p><p>Sokka rolled to his feet. “I’ll go with you.”</p><p>Zuko bristled. “I don’t need a <em>guard</em>.”</p><p>“Well <em>I</em> don’t need to sit here bored while Aang and my sister play with their magic water.”</p><p>“…fine.” Zuko stalked out of the room, Sokka leisurely following. However, when they got to Pakku’s home, the elderly waterbending master wasn’t there. Zuko and Sokka shared a glance.</p><p>“Their luck isn’t <em>that</em> bad.” Zuko argued.</p><p>“They <em>just </em>started, he can’t have caught them that quickly.” Sokka agreed.</p><p>“They would have found a discreet place, they know it’s illegal.”</p><p>“He could be anywhere, it’s not <em>that</em> late.”</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>“Exactly!”</p><p>“… want to check on them anyway?”</p><p>“If I say no, can we keep pretending we don’t think this is going to blow up in our faces?”</p><p>“Not well.”</p><p>Sokka sighed, but the pair went to search for their friends. Just as they feared, the man stood on a bridge overlooking where Aang and Katara were <em>very obviously</em> practicing waterbending.</p><p>They came onto the scene just as the master stole the water from Katara’s grasp and sent icy spikes crashing into the snow around him. “You have disrespected me, my teachings and my entire culture. You are no longer welcome as my student.”</p><p>Zuko had really been hoping his bad luck wasn’t <em>that </em>contagious.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>That's right, my chi-nerd is married to my sword-nerd. Northern Water Tribe Power Couple. </p><p>I am EXTREMELY excited for next chapter, hope you guys liked this one!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Really long chapter here, but I didn't have any good places to stop. </p><p>I hope you enjoy!! Thank you so much for your reviews and comments!! They really mean the world to me and I hope you enjoy!! </p><p>TW: PTSD, sexist language</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zuko could think of worse places to be than back in the Water Tribe war room, pleading his case with his friends after they were blatantly caught doing something they knew was illegal.</p><p>No really, he could.</p><p>Just… give him a few minutes.</p><p> Well okay, there was Jet’s cave. And the Agni Kai Room. And his father’s war room. The Great Divide. So, there were a lot of places. Still, he wished he’d been able to see Amka and the other healers before they got kicked out of the North Pole.</p><p>Arnook was looking at them incredulously. “What do you want me to do? Force Master Pakku to take Aang back as his student after you disrespected out culture and appear wholly unrepentant about that?”</p><p>Katara swallowed deeply, but she was not one to give up. Instead, she persisted. “Yes, please.”</p><p>Zuko doubted that even the chief could do that, not to the eldest in the tribe, and most powerful bender besides. Zuko himself had spent half the night trying to get through to the other man, but he had simply said, “You will not be required for warrior training any longer.” And sent him into the room he’s been using with a wave of ice.</p><p>Not even <em>he </em>was stupid enough to try and follow that bit of ash. It was clear enough, they would be out of the tribe before the midday meal.</p><p>The chief shook his head, glancing at the master. “I suspect he might change his mind, if you swallow your pride and apologize to him.”</p><p>Zuko glanced at the Waterbending Master, as though to see if it was even a remote possibility and found the man watching with a superior, condescending smirk. Ah. So that’s what this was. Pakku wasn’t enough of a jerk to <em>really </em>risk the fate of the world by refusing to teach the Avatar, but he was enough of a jerk to want a visible, public apology and a confession of his superiority.</p><p>Now this was consistent of what Zuko knew to expect of those in power.</p><p>He had grown unfortunately accustomed with bowing his head and accepting it. It was a lesson taught time and again by his Father, his grandfather, the royal tutors, dignitaries and nobles who, while technically ranked below the crown price, held more power than a child with mediocre bending. He learned when to bend his head and when he could, when it was <em>safe </em>to, argue and protest and raise his voice. He’d learned that lesson for the last time the night he was banished, but he thought this time the lesson had finally stuck. He’d finally learned respect.</p><p>He doubted that the Water Tribe siblings had received the same education. (He hoped they didn’t).</p><p>Katara was glaring fire at the man, but she bit out, “Fine.”</p><p>Pakku’s smug smirk only heightened. “I’m waiting, little girl.”</p><p>Katara’s face cracked in fury, the ice beneath her feet creaking and splintering. “No. No way am I-“</p><p>Zuko <em>moved</em>, reacting with a speed previously unmatched as he covered the girl’s mouth before she could risk a single further word. His heart pounded, ant it felt like his scar throbbed with phantom pain in time with its beats.</p><p>The room was bright white <em>the room was dark </em>and he shivered in the cold <em>it was difficult to breathe in the oppressive heat as sweat pooled down his back</em>.</p><p>Men in blue sat in a line in a raised platform, their chief among them, <em>men in red sat on two sides of a table, their leader separated by a wall of flame</em>.</p><p>A naïve child spoke out against something they knew to be wrong <em>a naïve child spoke out against something they knew to be wrong. </em></p><p><em>The child challenged a master, </em>Zuko refused to let Katara make his mistakes.</p><p>“Shut up.” He hissed, fury and fear running rampant and making his words harsh. “Shut <em>up. </em>And just apologize.”</p><p>“But he’s <em>wrong</em>.”</p><p>“That doesn’t matter.”</p><p>“Of course it does!” The girl protested. Aang and Sokka, the only ones close enough to hear their angry whispers, shared a glance and took a collective step back. “He’s wrong and I can prove it. I’m a good bender Zuko, I can fight. If he won’t take my word for it, then he can fight me himself.”</p><p>“<em>NO.</em>” Zuko could feel himself shaking. “I don’t care how talented you are. He. Is. A. Master. You cannot challenge a master. You’ll think you know what you’re doing, but you don’t, and you’re just going to end up <em>burned </em>and-“ He broke off, biting his tongue as Katara’s eyes went wide, then softened.</p><p>He hadn’t meant to say that.</p><p>“Look, just- just apologize for now. Lie. I have an idea, we’ll make him respect you, just… not like this.”</p><p>Katara watched Zuko closely before she nodded jerkily. “Fine.” She turned and, clearly forcing every word, apologized. Pakku accepted the apology with all of the smug condescension that he could muster, and lead a sulky and disappointed Aang from the room to begin his second day of training.</p><p>The two southern tribe teens and Zuko left seconds after. Sokka placed an attempt at a comforting hand on Zuko’s shoulder. He was the only one who knew the story (most of the story. He knew the scar came from the firelord himself, but had no clue that it had been Zuko’s own father), he’d confessed it during a storm on a decrepit fishing boat, halfway convinced they wouldn’t survive. He would have known that Zuko wouldn’t want to have let it out like that.</p><p>Zuko wasn’t in the mood to talk about it though, so he shook the hand off. He turned to Katara. “Pakku supervises the waterbending warrior training in the sparring grounds in the afternoons. Meet me there. He doesn’t think that you can fight? We’ll show him how you spar against me.”</p><p>The girl grinned, wide and bright and threw her arms around Zuko in a hug. Zuko tensed, as usual, but as always the girl didn’t let go until he’d relaxed again. “Thank you, Zuko.”</p><p>“Yeah yeah, Zuko’s the best, whatever. Now, I think you have some healthy healing magic lessons, Zuko needs to go to his checkup for his magic, and I need to see a man about a sword. And possibly a princess about a second date. We’ll see how it fits my schedule.”</p><p>Zuko rolled his eyes, but followed the others towards the clinic and armory. Honestly, that went… much better than expected.</p><hr/><p>This could not be going worse.</p><p>Sokka groaned and leaned against a wall, glad to be away from his sister who would call him overdramatic, Aang who would look at him with <em>those </em>eyes, and Zuko who… was Zuko. He knew he shouldn’t complain, he was far from worst off here, but they had only been in the Northern Water Tribe like 2 days and Zuko had a complete breakdown, Aang was struggling with bending, they wouldn’t teach Katara, Aang and Katara had gotten caught committing a literal crime, and he’d gotten dumped on the first date.</p><p>Oh, and their sea prunes tasted <em>weird</em>.</p><p>This was not the almost-homecoming he’d been expecting after months in the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. The boy sighed heavily before forcing himself to straighten. It was okay, they would figure it out. They had a plan.</p><p>A Zuko plan.</p><p>He should probably come up with a backup plan. But first…</p><p>The teen made for the armory, hoping that a little shoppys-stabby would settle his mind a bit. Not that it was shopping so much as asking for a free sword, but still, he had high hopes.</p><p>What in the last few days had lead to him having high hopes that anything would go the way he wanted it to in the Northern Water Tribe?</p><p>Great question.</p><p>One he was electing to ignore.</p><p>Luckily, the two jerks were <em>not </em>in the armory this time. Instead, Kamack was hunkered by the whet stone, running a machete blade down it’s length. It was a full machete, not a machete-club like Sokka’s so it had a full blade without the blue ball intended to create an impact without slicing an animal’s hide. Even the simple weapon seemed expertly made, metal gleaming sharply.</p><p>The bearded man grinned up at Sokka as he neared, flipping the machete around to hold it by the blade and offer the other end to Sokka. “How does that feel?”</p><p>Sokka grabbed the handle and was surprised to find his fingers fit into grooves. It wasn’t an entirely unfamiliar feeling, as his spear from back home had grooves that fit his hand perfectly, indents in the bone that had been born after hours and years of practice, but it was strange to feel them on a brand new weapon. Kamack had carved the grooves into the bone, then placed a laquer over them to make them smooth again. Sokka hadn’t noticed at first because he had made the cover up look decorative.</p><p>He gave it a few swings and was impressed at the balance, the weight and height made it flow as smoothly as waving his arm. “It feels great.” He said earnestly. “The grip is pretty big though, a little loose.”</p><p>The man laughed, “It won’t be, for the man it is made for.” He wiggled his fingers, which were several times larger than Sokka’s. Fair enough.</p><p>The boy grinned and gave the machete a few more swipes before handing it back. “Your weapons are really amazing.”</p><p>“I hope so, as head weapon’s craftsman, it would be embarrassing for the tribe if they sucked.”</p><p>Sokka was startled into laughter. It was nice to remember that adults could have a sense of humor. It made him miss his dad.</p><p>The man winked at him and carefully laid the machete onto his worktable, where several other blades, spears, and even a few boomerangs were in various levels of completion. He moved around to the box that the other men had showed Sokka the other day and deftly pulled out the sword.</p><p>He paused for a moment, staring at the blade with pride. “I had mastered all of the Water Tribe traditional weapons years ago, and started asking around to the elders if they had any new challenges for me, keep me from getting bored. I didn’t expect anything to come of it, but Master Pakku showed up with a sword design and I… I became almost obsessed.” He laughed. “My wife actually had to tell <em>me </em>to put down the scroll and go to bed. Which is funnier if you knew her. Let’s just say that Amka’s scroll have seen so much of the night that Tui herself could probably quote her chi mapping notes from memory.”</p><p>“I can’t believe you made something this amazing on the first try.”</p><p>“Ha! First try? No. This is nearly my 20<sup>th</sup>, but tries 1 through 19 weren’t worth keeping. They were clunky, or splitting, or soft, or unbalanced…” He waved a dismissive hand. “I melted them down to make other things. But this sword… it’s perfect. My Magnus Opus. Then I gave it to one of the top spearmen to try to wield and… it was honestly painful. Like one of the kids poking around with a stick. I gave a few others a try, but… it was better for it to collect dust than to be used like that. I stuck to making traditional weapons after that. Like I said last night though, I never intended for this blade to sit around. If you can wield it, then maybe it was the spirit’s will that you have it.”</p><p>“You actually believe in spirit stuff?” Sokka’s face scrunched up in slight disgust, though he tried to smooth it out. Maybe he shouldn’t antagonize the man offering to give him a free amazing sword.</p><p>He didn’t even have to pull a prank to get it.</p><p>“Sometimes more than others. You don’t? I thought that the Avatar was closely aligned with the spirit world.”</p><p>“Well yeah, I had a sleepover there once. Don’t recommend. But like, that spirit didn’t realize that acorns are a thing, I don’t exactly trust them with fate or destiny or bla bla bla.”</p><p>The man laughed. “You had a- you have had an interesting life, young Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe.”</p><p>“Kamack, you don’t know the half of it.”</p><p>The man shook his head and offered Sokka the sword. Sokka took it and felt the exact same sense of <em>right </em>as he had earlier. This sword was his, no matter who made it or what spirits said what.</p><p>Kamack nodded to himself as he watched Sokka’s hand settle in the grip. “It fits you. I must be sure though.” He grabbed one of the short spears and headed to a small, clear section. He gestured with his weapon and Sokka immediately followed and dropped into one of the stances that Zuko taught him, the one that felt most natural.</p><p>The weapon was a little different from Zuko’s dao, heavier even if it was well balanced. It was longer and straighter as well, but Sokka had little trouble adding imagination to the basics Zuko had drilled into him, and while he wouldn’t say he was a match for the seasoned warrior using a familiar weapon, he held his own. The steel of his blade bit into the wooden handle, the forge filled with the dull clack of bone hitting metal as their weapons clashed against one another. Kamack was clearly more testing him than actually fighting, but by the time he stepped back, breathing heavy and sweating, he seemed impressed.</p><p>He gave a short Water Tribe bow. “I would be honored if you take my blade. Just remember, if any of your enemies ask where you got the thing of beauty as you strike them down, tell them it was from the greatest swordsmith of the North Pole!”</p><p>Sokka grinned proudly, then frowned. “Why would you want my enemies to know that?”</p><p>Kamack faltered. “Good point.”</p><p>“I’ll tell any cool people who like swords where I got it from, how’s that?”</p><p>“It doesn’t have the same ring to it.” The man complained before winking. “But I guess practically, that works out better.”</p><p>Sokka gave a low bow, the formal gesture broken by the face-splitting grin stretched across his lips. “Thank you. I am-I’m honored. So, totally honored. This is the best day ever. You won’t regret this.”</p><p>The man chuckled, somehow grinning just as broadly as Sokka, as though seeing his tool used by a skilled tribesman brough him as much joy as it brough Sokka to have it. “I know I won’t. Especially since I see you are itching to show your sword master, and I now have an excuse to see my wife.” He motioned towards the door and Sokka was practically already gone, rushing through the doorway  towards the healing hut.</p><p>He burst into that room and stopped dead in his tracks. Zuko was sitting on one of the low pallets, voluntarily allowing one of the healers to hug him. Of course, it could have just been that he wasn’t paying attention, his entire being was locked wholly focused on the candle-flicker of flame he held tamed in his hand. The expression on his face was incandescent with joy, reminding Zuko of that day in the hut after meeting Jeong Jeong.</p><p>Only this time, he felt no stab of jealousy, not bite of missing out. Instead he nearly shoved his sword into the other teen’s face. “Zuko! Meet Snowy the snow sword, the love of my life, matchless without peer. Sheer perfection, gaze upon her beauty.” He heard Kamack repeat ‘Snowy the snow sword’ behind him, sounding the closest he’d come to regretting giving Sokka the sword.</p><p>Zuko smiled at him and carefully pushed the blade away from his face. “Very nice.” He did a strange half-sitting bow to Kamack. “Your workmanship is superb. I know of only one greater.”</p><p>Kamack frowned. “Who?”</p><p>“The man who gave you the design. He would be proud of what you’d done with it. He always used to say that the way of the sword belongs to every nation.”</p><p>The man frowned, though if he were discomfited by the knowledge that his sword originated from a Fire Nation design, or that Zuko knew someone better than him, it was hard to say. His expression cleared after a moment and his grin returned. “If you see him again, tell him that his next design should include practice scrolls so that I don’t have to wait so long for someone who can use it.”</p><p>Zuko nodded. Sokka wasn’t sure if Kamack was joking or not, but Zuko definitely wasn’t. The older teen then turned to the Water Tribe boy with wide eyes. “Sokka, look.” He frowned in concentration, cupping his hands and furrowing his brow until smoke, and then a tiny flame just <em>appeared</em> in his hands. The healer squealed and hugged him again, and Zuko looked up at Sokka with wide eyed joy as the flame just, stayed.</p><p>“That’s <em>amazing</em>, man.” He said earnestly, internally musing on how months ago, he never would have thought that hearing that a firebender got his bending back could ever make him feel so happy, so light. “You can finally jerkbend again.”</p><p>Zuko didn’t even bother to scowl, just rolling his eyes and rolling to his feet to give the healer a bow so deep, he was basically bent in half. “Thank you.” He said, and the woman flushed, trying to wave it off as Kamack slipped around to snake an arm around her waist and smiled proudly.</p><p>“It’s nothing.” She tried to argue. “You aren’t up to full stuff yet, I cant do that. And honestly, getting to see your chi was more than-“</p><p>“When I lost my inner fire, I felt like I would be in darkness forever, you helped to give me my light back. I will be eternally grateful for this.” He said, still not rising from his bow. The couple looked at Sokka, seeming a little lost, and the Water Tribe teen shrugged.</p><p>“Yeah, sometimes he just talks like that.”</p><p>“Shut up.” Zuko scowled with a flush, back to a grumpy teen.</p><p>Sokka grinned so hard that his face actually hurt. Okay, maybe things in the Northern Water Tribe weren’t as bad as he thought.</p><hr/><p>It took every ounce of Zuko’s self-control not to just… walk around with that lick of flame in his hand for the rest of the day.</p><p>His fingers itched to pull it out, he felt like he could feel his chi jumping and dancing through his body and wondered if Amka had seen that through her healing water or if was just in his imagination. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected the water healing to do, but he never thought it would heal his chi lines enough that he could create flame again when the sun was so weak and so rare.  </p><p>When he’d come into the healing hut, Amka and her friend had already been there, both pouring over a long parchment scroll, with a stylized chi map in the Water Tribe art style. Luckily, they weren’t looking at him like they had been last night, with that near-frantic worry. Instead, they seemed determined as they lead him to the same pallet as the day before. Amka had insisted on checking him over <em>again</em>, as if she hadn’t done it twice after the fight the day before.</p><p>He’d protested, but hadn’t actually done anything to stop her, and she was soon switching to fixing his chi. She had explained that she couldn’t replenish it, but she could fix bottlenecks, strengthen pathways and help make the chi that was there flow easier. It had felt… unpleasant. Like when your hands were cold and warming them up felt like a burn and pins and needles when warm blood flowed through the chilled skin. He’d endured it, hoping distantly that he wasn’t just sitting there for no reason.</p><p>When her friend brought the torch and she asked him to try bending, he had been amazed at how much more readily the flames had leapt to his will. He almost hadn’t dared to try, but he had to see, so he had pulled the flames to his hand, fully expecting them to flicker for a moment and disperse, as they had for weeks. The flame had indeed flickered, but then strengthened, shining strong in his palm and flaring to his increasingly erratic breathing. It was like holding a small animal, a companion who would flee or bite most, but leapt to his hands familiarly to cuddle.</p><p>Soon the flames started flickering again, this time because his hands were shaking. He let the fire die and took a deep breath.</p><p>“Are you okay?” The friend had asked, as Amka’s eyes hadn’t left the glowing water monitoring his chi. She was completely enraptured in watching… whatever she was watching.</p><p>“Yeah. I’m just… about to try something that probably won’t work.” He’d admitted, then closed his eyes. He had been focused on his inner chi, on that power inside of himself. He remembered feeling it flicker and flare and move, feeding upon the fuel of his passion like flames fed upon wood and air. He’d breathed in deep, measured even breaths, pushing at his chi, feeding it more. He had been able to feel his face scrunch in concentration as he struggled to get it to obey, struggled in a way he hadn’t since he was a child tying to catch up to a little sister lest he face his fathers disappointment. But, unlike the last few months (last few years), he’d had something to struggle against. He’d been able to feel the flame, not just those belonging to the fires around him, but his inner flame. His nose had twitched as he’d started to smell smoke, but he hadn’t dared to open his eyes. Smoke wasn’t fire, he could tell.</p><p>Suddenly, Amka had gasped beside him. “Wait, what are you-“</p><p>And… life had appeared in his palm.</p><p>Zuko shook his head now as he remembered the joy, so overwhelming, Amka’s arms around his shoulder so reminiscent of his mom when he made his first ever actual flame as a child. He couldn’t help allowing himself just a moment to flicker a lick of flame onto his hand. It jumped over his thumb for a moment, but he hastily put it away when he heard footsteps at the door. Pakku came in, carrying the pot with their dinner and his normal scowl.</p><p>As usual, the majority of the meal was silent, but this time Zuko broke it. “I’ve begun to appreciate more of the Water Tribe culture, but you are fools for stifling half of your people at the time that you need them most. Some of the Fire Nation’s most competent fighters are women, and you won’t even let them <em>try</em>.”</p><p>“Forgive me if I don’t want to take cultural advice from a nation currently trying to destroy and subjugate the rest of the world.”</p><p>Zuko… had not expected such a valid argument. Which was probably why the worst comeback slipped out. “Currently succeeding at destroying and subjugating the rest of the world, with the help of female soldiers and commanders.” Pakku’s expression showed just how unimpressed he was with that reply, so Zuko went back to the arguments he’d been rehearsing. “What I’m trying to say is, the women of your Tribe are just as capable as the men, and a lot of them want a chance to prove it. I’ve been in the healing huts, I spoke with them. You don’t even let them learn self defense. That’s not just stupid, that’s dangerous. They want to learn and if you keep on ignoring that, ignoring them you’re going to regret it.”</p><p>The man sighed heavily. “Perhaps that is the way of your people, but not here. Our traditions exist for a reason. When left to their own devices, women will allow emotion and irrationality to dictate their actions, they will make grievous mistakes.”</p><p>“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”</p><p>“Hrmph. Perhaps to a youth. I have experience that you do not, young prince. I am not speaking idly.” His expression turned wistful as he stood from the low table and went to a rack of scrolls.</p><p>“There was a girl in the tribe years ago, headstrong, outspoken, absolutely against the traditional roles of women in the tribe.” He sniffed dismissively. “In many ways, your companion reminds me of her. Despite her faults, I loved her. As the most promising waterbender in the tribe, it was determined that I was the only one who would have the ability to tame someone like her, and so the council arranged our marriage. I carved the betrothal necklace with my own hands, a gorgeous turquoise engraved with my family crest.”</p><p>He opened a scroll and turned it to show Zuko a picture that had him choking on his last bit of stew. He knew that design, had seen it on his friend’s necklace ever since Aang got it back from Zhao in that abbey. But that didn’t make any sense.</p><p>“Not a week after our betrothal was announced, she was gone. In her rebellion she stole a kayak in the middle of the night, and was never seen from again. Foolish girl, so overwhelmed that she risked abandoning her people, and now she no doubt rests in a watery grave. That or she ended up in the Earth Kingdom where she has all the freedom she wanted, with no family, no tribe and no people. Pure foolishness.”</p><p>He shook his head and stood. “Now, I am done talking about this. I must leave now, or I will be late to train actual warriors.”</p><p>Zuko rose as well, following the man to the door. This was fine, he hadn’t actually expected talking to work. Time for the actual plan.</p><p>Pakku frowned as Zuko followed him to the training area. “I thought we discussed this. We will no longer be requiring you for training.”</p><p>Zuko blinked, honestly surprised. He’d thought that since they hadn’t <em>actually</em> been kicked out, his words from the morning were no longer in effect. He shook himself and forced back the stark relief he felt at that realization. “That’s not why I’m going.”</p><p>Pakku’s eyes scrunched in suspicion, but his pride wouldn’t allow him to ask, and Zuko didn’t offer up an explanation.</p><p>When they got to the training grounds there was once again a circle around an individual, none but Sokka dared to stand near. The Water Tribe boy had also re-lit the torches, and in the dimming twilight, Katara seemed almost ethereal within the circle.</p><p>“What is the meaning of this? You are not yet advance enough to be the healer assigned to the sparring grounds.”</p><p>“I’m not here to heal. I’m here to <em>fight</em>.”</p><p>Pakku scoffed. “Go back to the healing hut where you belong, girl. You are trying my patience.”</p><p>“She isn’t here to fight you.” Zuko said, stepping into the ring. “She’s here to fight me. I’ve seen your students, Master Pakku. I’ve fought them, and I can tell you that despite their training, there are men twice her age that don’t stand against Katara’s fighting prowress. She is a novice, untrained beyond a single scroll. Everything she learned, she learned by herself. Yet she has skill that is undeniable. And you’re going to see it.”</p><p>Without giving Pakku a moment to argue again, Zuko sent a stream of fire from one of the torches to Katara. The girl bright up a shield of ice, which she immediately melted, formed into ice shards, and sent Zuko’s way. It was a technique that Zuko had only seen once before, from a distance. The move that Pakku had displayed the night before.</p><p>Zuko blocked the ice with his swords, but before he could gather more flame to attack, the girl sent a water whip his way. The firebender crossed his arms so that they took the brunt of the blast, and moved his hands together in a clap that brought waves of flame from either side careening towards his opponent. She gasped and sent water up to block, but the force of the steam sent her falling back. Zuko leaped through the steam, blades flashing until they stuck fast to the pillar of ice that she raised from the ground.</p><p>Zuko didn’t dare pull his punches as they faced. Just as he knew how the waterbenders fought now, Pakku was well aware of his skill level. Any hesitation, any softening of blows would only undermine his point. Luckily, he knew Katara well enough he knew he wouldn’t have to. They had sparred for hours on their travels, nights spent bending the fire he could and trading off between training Sokka and Katara. He knew how the waterbender fought, which meant he knew exactly how to play to her strengths without showing any false weakness. Especially not in an icy tundra after the sun had set on a waxing moon.</p><p>They went back and forth for what felt like forever, trading blow for blow, until a wave of water met a wall of flame with such intensity that the explosion of steam sent them flying to completely opposite sides of the training ground.</p><p>
  
</p><p>(Image credit to the AMAZING Naiya Dyani, thank you so much!!!)</p><p>Two sets of heavily panting teen faced each other as the steam  drifted off. Katara moved back into a fighting stance, but Zuko just turned to face Pakku, sheathing his weapons and walking across the disturbed snow to stand beside his friend. The man was watching the fight, face scrunched in displeasure, though he couldn’t hide that he was impressed.</p><p>Zuko pointed at the man. “Well? You were there yesterday, Pakku. You saw how your students fared against me, and now you saw her. Are you going to continue claiming that she is unable to fight because of her gender? Just try it, show the tribe that their master is a fool.”</p><p>Pakku shook his head. “I don’t deny that she has skill. She does. However, this is our tradition, our culture. At a time that the Fire Nation is trying to strip us of what makes us Water Tribe, it is more important than ever that we hold to our beliefs. This is the way it has been for generations, I will not break it to train the first female bender of the Northern style.”</p><p>Zuko leaned into Katara, whispering. “Psst, give me your necklace.”</p><p>“What? Why?” She whispered back.</p><p>“Just do it.” He started talking again as the girl’s hands went to the clasp.</p><p>“This isn’t about training the first Northern style female bender. This isn’t even about training the <em>best</em> female bender. You saw that fight. You know that if you train Katara, you will be training one of the best waterbenders of all time, male or female.” Katara handed him the necklace. “If you still can’t see past that, then it’s obvious why your betrothed would rather cross the ocean than be with you.”</p><p>Pakku caught the necklace, going slack jawed in pure amazement as his thumb traced over the familiar design that he himself had formed. “This is… this is the necklace I made Kanna 60 years ago.”</p><p>“My Gran-Gran was supposed to marry you?” Katara asked.</p><p>“I spent weeks practicing carving this design, on any material I could find. I wanted only the best for her. I thought we would have a long and happy life together. I loved her.”</p><p>“But she didn’t love you, did she? It was an arranged marriage. Gran-Gran wouldn’t let you tribes stupid customs run her life. That’s why she came to the South Pole. It must have taken a lot of courage.”</p><p>Pakku was silent for a long moment. “I suppose it must have. Kanna… must have felt truly desperate.” The Waterbending master looked between Katara, Zuko, and the necklace, and looked to the crowd of women who had been attracted by the fight, remembering the cheers and excitement that had been nearly drowned out by the rushing water and creaking ice. “What was that you said Zuko? That if I continue to stick to this tradition I would live to regret it? You were wrong you know. I already did. I have for years, ever since she left. I suppose that made me dig my heels in even deeper. If I could not be happy with Kanna, at least I could be <em>right.</em>”</p><p>He walked across the sparring ground and handed the girl back her necklace. “It is… past time for me to hang up my pride. I would hate to have yet another regret, and I would, if I dared to turn away a bender of your skill. I expect you at sunrise tomorrow.” He said, and turned away.</p><p>Katara squealed, so loud that Zuko had to flinch away, then she as hugging him and jumping up and down. Zuko grimaced, but allowed it. He wished his last fight with a master had ended like this. He would grant Katara the time to be excited at her victory. Then Aang leaped onto the hug as well, and Zuko stumbled as he struggled to keep upright.</p><p>Sokka headed over as well. Zuko, who was barely standing, glared at the other teen. “If you leap on me, I’m burning your clothes. I can do that now.”</p><p>Sokka laughed, but didn’t jump, instead he stared helping pry the airbender off of him. “Save the threats Jerkbender, and grab your swords. Lets see how you do against Snowy.”</p><hr/><p>Sokka breathed deeply in the cool night air. Zuko had kicked his butt, but then he’d walked Sokka through some new Katas and he could already feel himself improving. Snowy was <em>way </em>better than both of Zuko’s swords put together, the firebender was just too pig-chicken to admit it.</p><p>He hummed to himself in joy as he crossed one of the city’s many bridges. Things were going a lot better. Katara could learn to waterbend, Aang would no doubt improve in his lessons with her there to keep him on track, Zuko was getting his bending back, and he got the best sword to ever exist. Everything was coming up GAang. The only bummer left was…</p><p>Yue was standing on the bridge, staring up at the moon.</p><p>“Yue! What are you doing here?”</p><p>“Just… thinking.” She said softly, and sighed. “I heard about what your sister did. I wish I could have seen it. I think it’s really cool that you supported her for that.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, she’s my sister, you know? I want to protect her, but honestly the best way to do that is to see that she can protect herself. And she can. She definitely can. She sure showed Pakku his place.”</p><p>Yue giggled softly, the sound just as gorgeous as the rest of her. Sokka took a deep breath. If his sister was brave enough to try and fight generations of stereotypes, he could be brave enough to do this. “Look, I just… I think you’re beautiful. And I never thought a girl like you would even notice a guy like me.”</p><p>“You don’t understand.” She said, liquid pooling in her eyes.</p><p>“No, no. I think I do now.” He didn’t want her to cry, but Zuko’s words echoed in his mind. She was royalty, relationships were different for them. Zuko had told him once he was a noble, he would know. “You’re a princess, and I’m…  I’m just a southern peasant.”</p><p>“No, Sokka-“</p><p>“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I’ll see you around, okay?” He turned, heart beating pain through his chest. He couldn’t look at her anymore, couldn’t-</p><p>Suddenly there were hands on his shoulders, spinning him around until his lips met hers.</p><p>For a moment, bliss.</p><p>Then his mind caught up to the events he stepped back. “Ok, not I’m really confused! Happy,” He admitted, “But confused.”</p><p>“I do like you, a lot. But we can’t be together. Not for the reason you think. It’s because I’m engaged.” She pulled the collar of her coat down to reveal a (fairly basic and unimpressive) necklace. “I’m sorry.” Then she ran away.</p><p>Man, he wished he had someone other than Zuko to go to for girl advice.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed! So, I probably won't be posting anything else until after new years, and I am planning on writing some prior chapters that I got inspiration for before starting on the siege of the North, but those will be a lot quicker, probably a chapter or two an episode. </p><p>The once I"m planning on writing (Not necessarily in order):<br/>The Fortuneteller<br/>The Storm (since I reference it like every chapter)<br/>Then either The Blue Spirit or The Northern Air Temple. I have half baked ideas for both, so we'll see what I land on.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trying to be more available on Tumblr if you want to chat! https://thisentertaining.tumblr.com/</p></blockquote></div></div>
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